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JMtfERS;T»    OF    CALIFORNIA     SAN   OIEGO 


3   1822  01118  9958 


®lf]?  Imwraita  of  MmmBcU 


STUDIES  IN  LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


NUMBER  1 


AN  INQUIRY   INTO  THE  COMPOSITION    AND 
STRUCTURE  OF  LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 

BY 

ESTHER  L.  SWENSON,  M.A. 

Sometime  Assistant  in  English  in  the  University  of  Minnesota 

WITH  A  NOTE  ON  THE 
HOME  OF  LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 

BY 

HARDIN  CRAIG,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  English  in  the  University  of  Minnesota 


MINNEAPOLIS 

Bulletin  of  the  University  of  Minnesota 

October  1914 


RESEARCH  PUBLICATIONS 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MINNESOTA 

These  publications  contain  the  results  of  research  work  from  various  de- 
partments of  the  University  and  are  offered  for  exchange  with  universities, 
scientific  societies,  and  other  institutions.  Papers  will  be  published  as  sep- 
arate monographs  numbered  in  several  series.  There  is  no  stated  interval 
of  publication.  Application  for  any  of  these  publications  should  be  made  to 
the  University  Librarian. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCIENCES 
(Continuing  Studies  in  Economics) 

1.  Thompson  and  Warber,  A  Social  and  Economic  Survey  of  a  Rural 
Township  in  Southern  Minnesota.    April,  1913. 

2.  Matthias  Nordberg  Orfield,  Federal  Land  Grants  to  the  States, 
with  Special  Reference  to  Minnesota.     In  press. 

3.  Edward  Van  Dyke  Robinson,  Early  Economic  Conditions  and  the 
Development  of  Agriculture  in  Minnesota.    In  press. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  PHYSICAL  SCIENCES  AND  MATHEMATICS 
(Continuing  Studies  in  Chemistry) 

1,  Frankforter  and  Frary,  Equilibria  in  Systems  Containing  Alcohol, 
Salts,  and  Water.    December,  1912. 

2.  Frankforter  and  Kritchevsky,  A  New  Phase  of  Catalysis.  Feb- 
ruary, 1914. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  BIOLOGICAL  SCIENCES 
(Continuing  Studies  in  Public  Health) 

1.  Herbert  G.  Lampson,  A  Study  on  the  Spread  of  Tuberculosis 
in  Families.    December,  1913. 

STUDIES  IN  LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 
1.  Esther  L.  Swenson,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Composition  and  Struc- 
ture of  Ludus  Coventriae ;  Hardin  Craig,  Note  on  the  home  of  Ludus 
Coventriae.    October,  1914. 

CURRENT  PROBLEMS 

1.  William  Anderson,   The  Work  of   Public   Service   Commissions. 

November,  1913, 

2.  Benjamin  F.  Pittenger,  Rural  Teachers'  Training  Departments  in 

Minnesota  High  vSchools.    October,  1914. 

3.  Gerhard  A.  Gesell,  Minnesota  Public  Utility  Rates.    October,  1914. 


SIjp  Untupratty  of  JHtnnwnta 


STUDIES  IN  LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


NUMBER  1 


AN  INQUIRY   INTO  THE  COMPOSITION    AND 
STRUCTURE  OF  LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


BY 

ESTHER  L.  SWENSON,  M.A. 
Sometime  Assistant  in  English  in  the  University  of  Minnesota 

WITH  A  NOTE  ON  THE 
HOME  OF  LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 

BY 

HARDIN  CRAIG,  Ph.D. 
Professor  of  Enghsh  in  the  University  of  Minnesota 


MINNEAPOLIS 

Bulletin  of  the  University  of  Minnesota 

October  1914 


THE  UNIVERSITY  UBR^«Y 


'cA 


Copyright  1914 
The  University  of  Minnesota 


PREFACE 

During  the  year  which  has  elapsed  since  my  preparation  of  the  Note  on 
the  Home  of  Ludus  Coventriae  it  has  been  possible  for  me  to  collect  further 
information  from  Lincoln  records  with  regard  to  the  Lincoln  plays.  This 
I  shall  publish  when  opportunity  offers.  The  paper  printed  here  will,  as 
it  stands,  have  value  as  a  statement  of  the  problem  of  the  location  of  Ludus 
Coventriae  and  as  an  explanation  of  the  issues  involved,  so  far  as  they  are 
capable  of  explanation  in  the  light  of  the  materials  already  available  in 
print.  Another  matter  connected  with  this  publication  which  demands 
some  explanation  is  that  Miss  Swenson's  Inquiry  into  the  Composition  and 
Structure  of  Ludus  Coventriae  was  already  out  of  her  hands  when  Miss 
M.  H.  Dodds'  paper,  entitled  The  Problem  of  Ludus  Coventriae,  appeared 
in  the  January  number  of  the  Modern  Language  Review.  Miss  Swenson 
did  not,  therefore,  have  opportunity,  in  the  preparation  of  her  thesis,  to 
consult  Miss  Dodds'  article.  I  have  made  it  the  subject  of  a  few  com- 
ments at  the  end  of  my  Note  on  pages  81-83  below. 

•  Hardin  Craig. 

October  1,  1914. 


AN    INQUIRY  INTO  THE   COMPOSITION  AND 
STRUCTURE  OF  LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 

INTRODUCTION 

The  question  of  the  locality  to  which  the  so-called  Ludus  Coventriae 
ous^ht  to  be  assigned  has  long  been  debated.  In  the  year  1841  Halliwell 
edited  the  plays  for  the  Shakespeare  Society  under  the  following  title : 
"Ludus  Coventriae :  A  Collection  of  Mysteries  formerly  represented  at 
Coventry  on  the  Feast  of  Corpus  Christi."  His  principal  authority  for 
assigning-  the  cycle  to  Coventry  is  a  note  written  on  the  flyleaf  of  the  manu- 
script by  Dr.  James,  who  was  librarian  to  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  the  last  private 
owner  of  the  manuscript :  "Contenta  Novi  Testamenti  scenice  expressa  et 
actitata  olim  per  monachos  sive  fratres  mendicantes :  vulgo  dicitur  hie  liber 
Ludus  Coventriae,  sive  Ludus  Corporis  Christi."  Later  Dugdale  in  his 
History  of  Warzvick shire,  written  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
states,  probably  only  on  the  authority  of  James,  that  these  plays  were  pre- 
sented by  the  Grey  Friars  at  Coventry.  And  so  for  a  time  scholars  seem  to 
have  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  cycle  belonged  to  the  town  of  Coventry. 

With  the  advent  of  modern  critical  methods,  however,  scholars  have 
begun  to  inquire  into  the  authority  upon  which  James  based  his  assertion, 
and  have  found  that  it  rests  on  no  reliable  ground.  It  will  be  noted,  first, 
that  James  does  not  state  positively  that  these  were  Coventry  plays,  but 
simply  that  they  were  commonly  so  called ;  and,  secondly,  that,  in  describing 
the  cycle  as  made  up  of  plays  dealing  with  subjects  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, James  shows  that  he  is  unfamiliar  with  their  contents.  There  were, 
however,  craft-plays  at  Coventry  that  contained  only  New  Testament 
material,  and  it  seems  possible  that  James  confused  them  with  the  Ludus 
Coventriae.  On  the  first  page  of  the  manuscript  the  plays  are  entitled  simply, 
"The  plaie  called  Corpus  Christi,"  no  mention  being  made  of  their  location. 
The  inscription  is  written  in  a  later  hand,  probably  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 

Attention  has  often  been  called  to  the  last  four  lines  of  the  Prologue: 


'&>* 


A  Sunday  next,  yf  that  we  may. 

At  vi  of  the  belle  we  gynne  oure  play. 

In  N.  towne,  wherfore  we  pray 

That  God  now  be  youre  spede.  Amen. 

They  have  been  thought  to  indicate  that  the  plays  were  performed  by  a 
company  of  strolling  players,  the  'N'  of  *N.  towne'  standing  for  nomen. 

1 


2  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

Ten  Brink  and  Pollard  accept  this  interpretation  and  also  point  out  that  the 
dialect  indicates  a  North-East  Midland  origin  for  the  cycle.^  Mr.  Hohlfeld 
suggests  that  the  plays  might  originally  have  been  presented  by  the  Grey 
Friars  at  Coventry,  and  later,  when  the  craft-plays  of  Coventry  had  robbed 
the  Friars  of  their  popularity,  the  cycle  might  have  been  taken  over  by  a 
strolling  company.^ 

Mr.  Chambers,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  consider  it  necessary  to  con- 
clude that  the  'N'  of  'N.  towne'  indicates  nomen  and  consequently  a  band 
of  strolling  players.  He  suggests  that  it  may  stand  for  Norwich  or  some 
other  North-East  Midland  town  beginning  with  'N.'^  Mr.  Gayley,  being 
impressed  with  the  large  number  of  plays  in  the  cycle  dealing  with  the  life 
of  the  Virgin,  suggests  Lincoln  as  their  possible  location ;  for  in  the  Lincoln 
craft-plays  there  was  always  ecclesiastical  cooperation,  and  especial  empha- 
sis was  laid  upon  the  legends  of  the  Virgin.*  Mr.  Gayley  also  calls  attention 
to  the  similarity  of  the  Old  Testament  plays  in  the  Ludiis  Coventriae  to  those 
in  the  Chester  cycle  and  also  to  the  Viel  Testament  and  suggests  that  all  three 
of  the  cycles  spring  from  a  common  French  source,  located  in  time  between 
the  twelfth  and  fifteenth  centuries.^ 

These  proposals  are,  however,  not  in  any  case  sufficiently  substantiated 
and  seem  to  be  little  more  than  guesses.  The  history  of  the  manuscript  is 
shrouded  in  mystery,  and  so  far  examination  of  town  records  and  other 
external  evidence  has  yielded  no  great  positive  results.  It  seems  worth 
while  to  turn  to  an  examination  of  the  cycle  itself,  its  language,  composi- 
tion, style,  etc.,  with  the  hope  that  an  investigation  of  internal  evidence  may 
prove  more  successful. 

Mr.  M.  Kramer  in  his  treatise  called  Sprache  iind  Heimat  des  sogen. 
Ludiis  Coventriae  has  made  a  study  of  the  linguistic  peculiarities  of  the  cycle 
and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  there  underlies  the  cycle,  as  it  now  stands, 
an  older  "kernel  cycle."  This  basal  cycle,  he  believes,  originated  in  the 
southern  part  of  England  near  the  border  between  the  South  and  the  East 
Midlands,  possibly  in  Wiltshire,  but  that  the  old  original  cycle  has  been 
further  developed  and  revised  in  the  North-East  Midlands ;  he  thus  partially 
supports  Ten  Brink's  assertion. 

The  composite  nature  of  the  cycle  which  seems  to  indicate  that  the  play 
is  made  up  of  various  parts  of  cycles,  originally  not  connected,  as  here 
recognized  by  Kramer,  has  been  pointed  out  by  many  other  scholars.  Crei- 
zenach   and  Ten   Brink  both   call  attention   to   Prologue   material   in   the 


1  Ten  Brink,  History  of  English  Literature,  ii.  p.  283 ;  Pollard,  English  Miracle  Plays,  xxxvii. 

2  A.   R.   Hohlfeld,  Die  altenglischen  Kollektivmisterien,   in  Anglia,  xi. 
^  K.  K.  Chambers,  The  Mediaeval  Stage,  ii.  p.  421. 

<  C.  M.  Gayley,  Plays  of  Our  Forefathers,  p.   136. 

^  Gayley,  pp.  325,  326.     For  a  further  discussion  of  the  sources  of  this  cycle,  cf.  Falke,  Die  Quel- 
len  des  sag.  Ludus  Coventriae. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  3 

Nativity  and  Passion  groups  of  plays  which  marks  off  separate  units." 
And  Collier  expresses  the  opinion  that  Contemplacio  was  introduced 
after  the  first  production.'  Mr.  Davidson  in  his  Studies  in  the  English  Mys- 
tery Plays^  suggests  that  these  materials,  which  sprang  from  various  sources, 
were  recast  into  cyclic  form  by  one  writer  at  a  late  date,  probably  early  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  sixteenth  century,  however,  is  too  late,  since  the 
manuscript  is  generally  thought  to  have  been  written  in  the  year  1468. 
Moreover,  the  metrical  arrangement  of  the  plays,  as  I  hope  to  show  later, 
does  not  indicate  that  the  whole  cycle  has  been  rewritten  at  one  time  and  by 
one  hand.  It  may,  however,  be  very  possible  that  considerable  portions  of 
the  cycle,  such  as  the  ecclesiastical  parts  of  the  Nativity  plays,  are  the  work 
of  one  author.  Mr.  Chambers"  cites  a  rumor  that  Lydgate  of  Bury  was  such 
an  author ;  and  Mr.  Hemingway  in  his  English  Nativity  Plays^^  gives  a  num- 
ber of  arguments  in  favor  of  such  a  conjecture. 

In  the  book  mentioned  above  Mr.  Hemingway  has  made  a  comparative 
study  of  the  Nativity  plays  in  the  four  cycles,  together  with  an  inquiry  into 
their  origin  and  sources.  He  has  printed  from  Ludus  Coventriae  five  plays, 
The  Salutation,  Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary,  The  Visit  to  Elizabeth,  The 
Nativity  [Joseph  and  the  Midwives],  and  the  play  of  the  Shepherds.  As  a 
result  of  his  study  of  these  plays,  he  finds  that  the  ecclesiastical  portions, 
notably  the  Dispute  of  the  Four  Daughters  of  God  in  the  play  of  the  Saluta- 
tion, were  omitted  from  the  I'rologue  ;  and  that  the  action  of  the  plays  would 
not  be  seriously  affected  if  these  parts  were  omitted.  He  concludes 
that  the  original  plays  did  not  contain  the  theological  elements,  but  were  like 
the  other  English  plays  and  possibly  written  originally  for  trading  com- 
panies.^^ It  has  occurred  to  me  that  a  comparison  of  the  general  Prologue 
and  the  individual  plays  throughout  the  cycle  might  help  to  determine  the 
structure  and  composition  of  the  cycle.  In  connection  with  this  comparison, 
I  have  also  made  a  study  of  the  manuscript,  the  metrical  arrangement,  and 
the  stage-directions  with  a  view  to  distinguishing  between  older  and  newer 
elements  in  the  plays. 

The  manuscript  of  Ludus  Coventriae  is  found  in  the  British  Museum, 
Cotton  MS.  Vespasian  D.  viii.  It  is  generally  thought  to  have  been  written 
in  the  year  1468,  since  that  date  is  written  on  the  verso  of  fol.  100,  and  is 
apparently  in  the  hand  of  the  scribe.  In  addition  to  Dr.  James's  note,  quoted 
above,  the  name  of  Robert  I  legge,  Dunclmensis,  occurs  at  the  beginning  of 
the  manuscript  and  is  followed  by  the  title,  '"The  plaie  called  Corpus  Christi," 
written  in  a  later  hand,  which  Mr.  Hemingway  asserts  to  be  the  hand  of 

'■  W.  Creizenach,  Geschichte  des  ncucren  Dramas,  i.   300;   Ten   Brink,  i.  pt.   ii.   283. 

■7  T.  P.  Collier,  History  of  English  Dramatic  Poetry,  ii.   160. 

SDoct.   Diss.   Yale,   1892.  o  Chanihcr.s,   The  Mediaeval  Stai/e.  ii.    M.S. 

'"  S.  B.  Hemingway,  English  Nati'^ity  Plays,  xxxvii. 
11  Hemingway,  English  S/ati^ity  Plays,  xxxii. 


4  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

Robert  Hegge.  Hegge  has  written  his  name  in  a  number  of  places  on  the 
manuscript  and  other  names  also  occur,  written  in  the  margins  and  on  blank- 
pages,  John  Holland,  John  King,  William  Dere,  and  John  Taylphott.  The 
places  where  these  names  occur  are  indicated  below  in  the  discussion  of  the 
various  plays. 

The  absence  of  guild  names  or  of  clear  divisions  between  plays  in  the 
manuscript  has  led  scholars  to  suppose  that  the  plays  were  not  performed  by 
craft-guilds.  But  the  fact  that  numbers  are  written  in  the  margins  and  else- 
where to  mark  off  the  various  plays  may  indicate  that  at  some  time  in  the 
history  of  the  cycle  an  attempt  was  made  to  divide  the  cycle  up  into  separate 
plays  and  to  hold  various  crafts  responsible  for  each  part.  The  numbering 
of  these  plays  is  in  a  hand  contemporary  with  that  of  the  scribe,  and  is  done 
at  the  same  time  as  the  marginal  paragraph  marks  and  the  large  initial  let- 
ters. The  numbering  and  rubrications  run  straight  through  and  include  the 
Assumption  play,  although  this  is  written  in  a  different  hand.  Whether  or 
not  the  numbering  was  done  by  the  scribe  who  wrote  the  body  of  the  manu- 
script, it  is  certainly  true  that  the  numbering  must  have  been  done  on  a  later 
occasion,  namely  at  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  the  Assumption  play. 

In  the  following  discussion  I  have  adhered  to  the  divisions  as  marked 
in  the  manuscript  and  not  as  they  have  been  reproduced  by  Halliwell  in  his 
edition.  Wherever  there  is  any  disagreement  between  Halliwell  and  the 
manuscript,  and  this  occurs  mainly  in  the  part  of  the  cycle  dealing  with  the 
Passion,  I  have  found  that  the  manuscript  divisions  correspond  better  with 
the  Prologue  than  Halliwell's  do.  In  the  table  of  comparison  between  the 
Prologue  and  the  plays  I  have  indicated  Halliwell's  divisions  in  the  right- 
hand  margin  with  arabic  numerals  in  parentheses. 

A  study  of  the  metrical  arrangement  of  the  cycle  reveals  the  fact  that 
there  are,  belonging  to  the  original  cycle,  five  types  of  stanza  that  seem  to  be 
basic  forms,  as  follows :  (1)  A  thirteen-line  stanza  rhyming  abababab- 
c  d  d  d  c.  The  first  eight  lines  have  generally  four  accented  syllables,  and 
the  ninth  and  thirteenth  lines  vary  from  one  to  three.  This  type  is  used 
throughout  the  Prologue  and  the  first  part  of  the  cycle.  (2)  A  linked  ballad 
stanza  aaabcccb,  of  which  lines  one  to  three  and  five  to  seven  are  tetram- 
eter lines,  and  lines  four  and  eight,  trimeter  lines.  (3)  The  third  type  of 
stanza  is  the  four-foot  quatrain.  In  the  first  half  of  the  cycle  double  quat- 
rains, ababbcbc,  predominate,  and  in  the  second  half  the  single  quatrains 
seem  to  be  preferred.  (4)  Couplets  are  used  here  and  there  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  cycle,  but  never  to  any  great  extent.  (5)  The  second  part  of  the 
play  of  Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary  and  the  Purification  play  employ  a 
stanza  that  does  not  appear  elsewhere  in  the  cycle,  aabaabbcbc.  The 
lines  vary  in  length  from  three  to  four  feet,  but  are  generally  four  feet 
long.    In  addition  to  these  five  forms  there  is  considerable  use  made  of  the 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  5 

tumbling  meter  with  various  rhyming  schemes,  a  form  of  verse  which  I 
believe  may  be  mainly  the  work  of  a  redactor.  The  interweaving  of  these 
various  stanzas  is  indicated  in  the  discussion  of  the  individual  plays  and  also 
summarized  in  a  table  at  the  end.^- 

For  convenience  of  treatment  I  have  divided  the  cycle  into  four  groups. 
It  is  not  meant  that  these  groups  indicate  anything  very  definite  as  to  the 
structure  of  the  cvcle. 


i.    Fall  of  Lucifer 
ii.    Fall  of  Man 

Prologue 


V. 


GROUP  I 

iii.    Cain  and  Abel 
iv.    Noah  and  the  Flood 
Abraham's  Sacrifice 

Plays 


Creation  of  heaven  and 
the  angels. 


The  angels  worship  God. 
Rebellion    and    fall     of 
Lucifer. 


The  Fall  of  Lucifer 
(Including  the  first  82  lines  of  Halliwell's  Creation) 

i.  God  makes  an  introductory  speech,  in  which  he  speaks 
of   himself  as   "alpha   et  go,"   one   God   in    three 
persons,  etc. 
In  the  29th  line  of  this  speech  he  says,  "Now  wole  I 
begjnne  my  werke  to  make,"  and  then  goes  on  to 
tell  how  he  creates  heaven  with  the  stars  and  the 
angels. 
The  angels  sing,  "Tibi  omnes  Angeli." 
Lucifer  rebels  and  is  expelled  from  heaven  bj"^  God. 
He  laments,  but  says  nothing  of  plans  for  revenge. 


(1) 


The  Fall  of  Man 
(Including  the  rest  of  Halliwell's  Creation  as  well  as  his  Fall  of  Man) 

days  of  ii.  God  goes  on  in  his  speech  to  describe  the  work  of 
the  other  six  days  of  creation. 

The  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve  on  the  sixth  day. 
They  are  placed  in  paradise  and  given  the  com- 
mand concerning  the  tree  of  knowledge. 

God  rests  on  the  seventh  day,  blesses  his  work,  goes 
to  heaven. 

Adam  and  Eve  express  gratitude. 

The  temptation  and  fall. 

God  visits  the  garden,  calls  Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Ser- 
pent to  account.  The  Serpent  gives  jealousy  of 
man  as  a  reason  for  his  deed. 

Condemnation  and  expulsion,  angels  left  to  guard 
the  gates. 


ii.  The    other    si.x    days    of 
creation. 
The   creation   of    Adam 
and   Eve,  the  garden, 
the  command. 


The  temptation  and  fall. 


Expulsion  from  garden, 
angel  left  lo  guard 
the  gates. 


(2) 


Adam  and  Eve  lament. 


12  Davidson,   English  Mystery  Plays,  and  Hohlfeld,   Anglia,   xi,   liavc   trcattii   llio   i|uestion   of   the 
meters  of  this  cycle,  but  only  incidentally. 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


111. 


Cain  and  Abel  offer 
sacrifices. 

Cain  slays  Abel. 

God's  curse  upon  Cain. 


Cain  and  Abel 

iii.  Cain  and  Abel  ask  Adam's  advice  as  to  the  best  mode 
of  worship. 

They  select  the  offering.  Abel  chooses  his  best 
sheep,  Cain  considers  it  foolish  to  give  the  best  to 
God,  who  does  not  use  it.  Abel  remonstrates,  but 
to  no  purpose. 

The  sacrifice.  Abel's  sacrifice  burns,  while  Cain's 
does  not.  Abel  explains  this  as  betokening  God's 
approval  of  his  selection  of  the  best. 

Cain  slays  Abel. 

God's  curse  upon  Cain.    Cain's  lament. 


(3) 


IV. 


God  is  angry  with  man. 

God  sends  an  angel  to 
command  Noah  to 
build  an  ark,  etc. 


After  forty  days,  Noah 
sends  out  a  crow. 

Later  a  dove,  that 
brought  good  tidings. 


Noah  and  the  Flood 

XV.  Noah  and  his  family,  in  turn,  pray  for  deliverance 
from  sin.  Noah  announces  himself  the  second 
progenitor  of  the  human  race. 

God  resolves  to  destroy  man. 

An  angel  delivers  the  command  to  Noah  to  build 
the  Ark.  Noah  hesitates ;  he  is  too  old  (five  hun- 
dred years)  to  undertake  such  a  task;  but  the 
angel  reassures  him. 

Noah  and  his  family  go  to  the  sea. 

The  Lamech  episode.  Blind  Lamech,  walking  with 
a  youth,  boasts  of  his  skill  in  archery.  The  youth 
sets  a  mark  for  him ;  Lamech  inadvertently  slays 
Cain.  In  anger,  he  also  kills  the  youth,  and  then 
goes  to  hide. 

Noah  returns  with  his  family;  they  sing,  lamenting 
the  flood. 

When  forty  days  have  passed  Noah  sends  out  a 
crow. 

Later  he  sends  out  a  dove,  which  returns  carrying 
an  olive  leaf. 

They  sing,  "Mare  vidit  et  fugit." 


(4) 


Abraham  receives  the 
command  to  sacrifice 
Isaac. 

Abraham  is  willing  to 
do  God's  bidding. 

But  is  prevented  bv  an 
angel. 


Abraham's  Sacrifice 

Abraham  praises  God,  exhorts  his  son  to  honor  God. 
Abraham  goes  for  a  walk,  and  an  angel  meets  him, 
gives  him  the  command. 


Abraham  takes  Isaac  with  him  and  goes  forth  to 
the  sacrifice.  He  tells  Isaac  of  God's  command. 
Isaac  comforts  his  father. 

Angel  prevents  the  slaying  of  Isaac. 

Angel  promises  that  Abraham's  seed  shall  be  as  the 

stars,  etc. 
Abraham  and  Isaac  worship. 


(5) 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  7 

This  group  of  plays  contains  none  of  the  elaborations  of  the  scripture 
story,  such  as  the  long  dialogue  between  Abraham  and  Isaac  at  the  time  of 
the  sacrifice ;  nor  any  unscriptural  humorous  elements,  such  as  the  shrewish- 
ness of  Noah's  wife,  which  are  found  in  the  York,  Towneley,  and  Chester 
cycles.  Considered  as  a  whole,  these  Old  Testament  plays  are  extremely 
simple,  almost  direct  paraphrases  of  the  Bible  stories.  It  is  probably  for  this 
reason  that  Mr.  Gayley  considers  this  part  of  the  so-called  Ludiis  Coventriae 
older  than  the  other  cycles."  With  one  notable  exception  there  is  in  this 
part  of  the  cycle  a  close  correspondence  between  Prologue  and  plays.  Such 
minor  differences  as,  for  instance,  (1)  Cain's  grumbling  at  giving  God  the 
best  of  his  fruits,  (2)  Noah's  long  prayer  and  his  proclaiming  himself  the 
second  father  of  mankind,  (3)  the  Angel's  promise  to  Abraham  that  his 
seed  should  be  as  the  stars,  are,  I  believe,  simply  elaborations  of  the  themes 
given  in  the  Prologue  and  therefore  negligible.  The  first  of  these  occurs 
in  the  Towneley  play.^*  The  third  or  a  similar  promise  occurs  in  the  York 
and  Chester  plays. ^^  In  none  of  these  cycles  is  Noah  spoken  of  directly  as 
the  second  progenitor  of  the  human  race;  this  phrase  has,  to  be  sure,  an 
ecclesiastical  flavor  like  that  found  so  prominently  in  the  Nativity  plays,  but 
the  touch  is  too  slight  to  be  of  any  significance. 

The  Noah  play  contains  in  the  story  of  Lamech  a  striking  addition 
to  the  incidents  provided  for  in  the  Prologue.  If  the  play  had,  at  the  time 
of  the  writing  of  the  Prologue,  contained  the  Lamech  episode,  it  is  highly 
improbable  that  it  would  have  entirely  escaped  mention  in  the  Prologue. 
When  Noah  has  received  his  commission  from  the  Angel,  we  have  the  direc- 
tion :  "Hie  transit  Noe  cum  familia  sua  pro  navi,  quo  exeunte,  locum  inter- 
ludii  subintret  statim  Lameth  conductus  ab  adolescente,  et  dicens."  Then 
follows  the  story  of  the  death  of  Cain  and  after  that  this  stage- 
direction  :  "Hie  recedat  Lameth  et  statim  intrat  Noe  cum  navi  cantantes." 
The  last  part  of  this  play,  including  the  Lamech  story,  is  written  in  a  meter 
different  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the  group.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
scene  between  Noah  and  the  Angel  to  the  end  of  the  play  a  double  quatrain 
in  a  tumbling  measure  is  employed.  This  tumbling  meter  is  a  later  form  of 
verse  and  occurs  elsewhere  in  the  cycle  only  where  the  plays  bear  marked 
evidence  of  later  reworking.  It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that  this  episode 
was  introduced  into  the  cycle  during  the  period  of  revision,  and  the  adjoin- 
ing parts  of  the  play  rewritten  to  suit  it  and  to  suit  stationary  performances. 
In  this  connection  it  is  significant  that  in  the  genealogies  written  in  the 
earlier  folios  of  the  manuscript  in  larger,  more  ornamental  script,  we  have 
after  the  name  of  Lamech,  in  the  scribe's  ordinary  hand  which  he  uses  in 
writing  the  text,  this  note :  "that  slew  Caym,  this  Caym  had  2  wyf  fys,  etc." 

13  Gayley,  Plavs  of  Our  Forefathers,  p.  139.  K  T/ic  Towneley  Mvstcrics.  E.  E.  T.  S.,  p.   15. 

15  Tfce  York  Mysteries,  p.  56;  The  Chester  IVhitsun  Plays,  E.   E.  T.  S..  p.  '/o. 


8  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

Aside  from  the  tumbling  meter,  the  Old  Testament  plays  present  three 
regular  forms  of  verse :  (1)  The  prologue  meter  ababababcdddc, 
(2)  ballad  verse  a  a  a  b  c  c  c  b,  (3)  simple  double  quatrain  ababbcbc. 
The  prologue  meter  is  undoubtedly  the  basal  meter  of  this  group  and  of 
much  of  the  rest  of  the  cycle.  It  begins  with  the  Prologue  and,  with  but  one 
exception,  where  two  simple  quatrains  are  introduced  (stanzas  15  and  16, 
describing  the  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary  and  Joseph  and  the  Midwives)  is 
maintained  throughout  the  Prologue,  the  Fall  of  Lucifer,  and  the  first  part 
of  the  Fall  of  Man,  down  to  the  scene  where  God  visits  the  garden  and 
reproves  Adam,  Eve,  and  the  Serpent.  It  is  noteworthy  that  this  last- 
mentioned  scene  is  in  a  different  meter,  namely,  the  ballad  measure.  The 
prologue  meter  is  then  again  resumed  and  carried  through  the  rest  of  this 
play,  the  whole  of  Cain  and  Abel,  and  the  first  part  of  the  Noah  play,  when 
we  have  the  introduction  of  the  tumbling  meter  as  noted  before.  Then  with 
the  Abraham  and  Isaac  play  we  have  the  introduction  of  the  simple  double 
quatrain  which  is  to  be  equally  fundamental  throughout  the  cycle. 

A  study  of  the  stage-directions  and  the  appearance  of  the  manuscript  in 
this  part  of  the  cycle  seems  to  indicate  that  these  Old  Testament  plays  were 
at  the  time  of  the  writing  of  this  manuscript  regarded  as  a  unit  and  possibly 
presented  as  one  play.  After  the  Cain  and  Abel  play,  instead  of  the  direc- 
tion, "Hie  incipit  apparicio  Noe,"  or  something  to  that  effect,  we  have  the 
simple  "Introitus  Noe.''  This  is  written  in  the  manuscript  (folio  20b)  oppo- 
site Cain's  last  speech ;  then  a  half  page  is  left  blank  and  the  Noah  play 
begins  on  the  next  page  without  any  stage-direction.  The  direction,  "In- 
troitus Abrahe,"  is  written  (folio  25b)  after  the  Noah  play  in  the  same  line 
with  the  direction,  "Et  hie  recedant  cum  navi."  The  next  play  follows  imme- 
diately without  any  break  in  the  manuscript,  the  figure  "5"  being  written  in 
the  margin.  But  at  the  end  of  the  Abraham  and  Isaac  play  the  word 
"Explicit"  is  written  in  unusually  large  letters  and  nearly  a  page  and  a  half 
of  the  manuscript  is  left  blank  before  the  Moses  play  begins,  which  is 
introduced  with  an  "Introitus  Moyses." 

The  manuscript  in  this  section  presents  one  or  two  other  interesting  fea- 
tures. On  folio  10  in  the  play  of  the  Fall  of  Lucifer  appears  the  name  "Rob- 
ert Hegge  Dunelmensis,"  written  across  the  top  of  the  page.  A  genealogy 
from  Adam  to  Noah  begins  on  folio  16b  and  extends  to  folio  18,  written, 
in  the  ornamental  style  noted  before,  across  the  bottom  of  the  page.  On 
folio  21,  the  page  on  which  the  Noah  play  begins,  this  genealogy  is  resumed 
and  carried  through  from  Noah  to  Loth,  ending  on  folio  22b.  There  is  on 
folio  24  a  description  of  the  ark  as  being  three  hundred  cubits  long,  fifty  in 
breadth  and  thirty  high,  and  the  flood  as  towering  over  the  highest  mountain. 

The  stage-directions  in  this  group  of  plays  are  simple  and  written  entirely 
in  Latin. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


GROUP  IT 


vi.   Moses  and  the  Laws 


xiii.  Mary's  Visit  to  Elizabeth 


vii.  The  Prophets  xiv.  The  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary 

viii.  The  Barrenness  of  Anna  xv.  Joseph  and  the  Midwives 

ix.  Mary  in  the  Temple  xvi.  The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds 

X.  Mary's  Betrothal  xviii.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi 

xi.  The  Salutation  and  Conception  xix.  The  Purification 
xii.  Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary        xx.  The  .Slaughter  of  the  Innocents 


Prologue 


Plays 


VI. 


Moses  receives  the  two 

tablets 
And    preaches    the    ten 

commandments  to  all 

the  people. 


Moses  and  the  Laws 

vi.  The  burning  bush.     Moses,  praying,  sees  the  bush. 
God  commands  him  to  remove  his  shoes,  etc. 
God  gives  him  the  two  tablets  and  orders  him  to 

preach  to  the  people. 
The  ten  commandments,  each  followed  by  explan- 
ations and  applications,  are  recited  in  order. 


(6) 


vii.  The  seventh  pageant 
shall  be  of  "Jesse 
rote,"  out  of  which 
doth  spring  our 
"bote."  Kings  and 
prophets  shall  proph- 
esy of  a  queen,  who 
shall  heal  our  strife 
and  win  us  wealth 
without  end,  in  heaven 
to  abide. 

Her  son  shall  save 
us  by  his  wounds. 


The  Prophets 

vii.  Isaiah:     A  virgin   shall  conceive  .  .  . 
Radix  Jesse:     A  branch  shall  spring  .  .  . 
David  rex:     Out  of  my  blood  .  .  . 
Jeremiah:     God    shall    take    lineage    of    priest    and 

king. 
Solomon  rex:     Temple  ...  a  figure  of  the  maid. 
Ezeckiel:     A  gate  that  was  sperd  .  .  . 
Roboas  rex:     Of  our  kindred  a  maid  .  .  . 
Micheas:     Even  as  Eve  mother  of   woe  .  .  . 
Abias  rex:     All  our  mirth  cometh  of  a  maid  .  .  . 
Daniel:     I  saw  a  tree;  all  the  fiends  of  hell  shall 

be  afraid  when  that  maiden's  fruit  thereon  they 

see. 
Asa  rex:     God  will  be  born  of  a  maid  and  be  torn 

on  the  cross. 
Jonas:    On  third  day  shall  rise    .    .    . 
Josophat  rex  believes  all  that  has  been  said. 
Abdias:     When  he  is  risen,  death  shall  be  driven 

to  damnation. 
Joras    rex:      After    resurrection   .  .  .   shall    roturn 

to  heaven. 
Abacuche:     He  shall  be  judge  in  heaven. 
Osias  rex:     He  shall  send  the  spirit. 
Ezechias   rex:     A    maid    by    meekness    shall    bring 

mercy. 


(7) 


^0  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


Sophosas:     That    maiden's    birth   our    wealth    shall 
dress. 

Manasses   rex:     The    maid's   child   shall   be   prince 
of  peace. 

Bariik:     All  his  foes  shall  be  punished  on  dooms- 
day. 

Anion  rex:     Lord  grant  us  mercy  on  that  dread- 
ful day. 

The  Barrenness  of  Anna 

viii.  Contemplacio's  Prologue.     Cryst  conserve  the  con-     (8 
gregation,    etc.     This   play   is   of  the   Mother  of 
Mercy. 

1.  How  Anna  and  Joachim  were  her  parents. 

2.  Later  she  was  offered  to  temple  service. 

3.  Married  to  Joseph. 

4.  Salutation. 

5.  The  meeting  with  Elizabeth  and  therewith  a 
conclusion. 

Therefore  I  pray  you  peace. 

Ysakar  announces  festum  Encenniorum,  celebrated 
three  times  a  year,  etc. 

Joachim  goes  to  the  Temple.  He  introduces  him- 
self as  a  righteous  man,  because  he  divides  his 
property,  giving  one-third  to  the  Temple,  one- 
third  to  pilgrims,  and  one-third  to  those  who  live 
with  him— as  should  every  good  curate.  Anna 
and  Joachim  grieve  and  fear  to  go  to  the  Temple 
because  they  have  no  child.  Vow  to  consecrate 
their  child,  if  one  be  given  them,  to  the  Temple 
service.  Anna  mentions  the  prophecy  of  the  Vir- 
gin. Joachim  goes,  taking  two  turtle  doves  to 
offer  as  a  sacrifice. 

Service  in  the  Temple.  "Benedicta  sit  beata  trini- 
tas.''  Ysakar  refuses  Joachim's  sacrifice,  because 
he  is  childless;  service  continues,  with  an  Epis- 
copus,  Minister,  and  Chorus. 

Joachim  and  Anna  grieve  over  disgrace.  Joachim 
goes  to  shepherds  for  comfort.  Joachim  and 
Anna  pray.  Angel  comes  to  Joachim,  sings,  "Ex- 
ultet  coelum  laudibus,"  reminds  him  of  Sarah, 
Rachel,  and  the  mothers  of  Samson  and  Samuel, 
promises  a  child.  Joachim  and  shepherds  rejoice. 
Anna,  grieving,  goes  to  seek  her  husband  and  is 
comforted  by  the  Angel. 

Angel  goes  to  heaven  while  Anna  and  Joachim 
rejoice. 

Mary  in  the  Temple 
ix.  Contemplacio's   Prologue    (for  this  one  play  only).     (9) 
We  have  seen   the  story  of  Joachim  and  Anna. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


11 


how  Our  Lady  was  conceived.  Now  we  show 
you  how  she  was  offered  in  the  Temple.  She 
shall  appear  as  a  child  of  three  years,  and  remain 
there,  ever  according  to  God's  will,  up  to  her  four- 
teenth year. 

Joachim  and  Anna  bring  Mary  at  three  years  of 
age  to  the  Temple ;  she  gives  her  consent. 

They  present  her  to  Ysakar;  prayers  and  fare- 
wells, etc. 

Mary  ascends  fifteen  steps  of  the  Temple,  reciting 
a  psalm  for  each  step, 

Episcopus  gives  her  five  maidens  to  wait  upon 
her,  Meditacion,  Contryssyon,  Compassyon,  and 
Clennes. 

And  seven  priests  to  teach  her,  Dyscression,  De- 
vocion,  Dylexcion,  and  Delibcracion,  Declaracion, 
Determynacion,  Dyvynacion. 

Mary  offers  seven  petitions. 

Angel  ministers  to  her,  gives  her  the  significance  of 
the  five  letters  of  her  name.  The  earth  quakes 
and  an  angel  passes  back  and  forth,  bringing 
gifts.  Chorus  in  heaven.  Mary  brings  the  bish- 
op's gift  to  her  sisters. 

Contemplacio's  Epilogue.  Here  you  have  seen  the 
presentation  of  Our  Lady.  We  pray  you  of  your 
patience  that  we  have  passed  these  matters  over 
so  lightly.  Now  we  shall  proceed  to  "dissponsa- 
cion,"  which  was  fourteen  years  after  this.  The 
parliament  of  heaven  and  how  God's  son  became 
man  and  the   Salutation  after  shall  be. 


(Written     over     another 
figure.)  Abyacar 

(Abiathar)  commands 
that  all  maidens  who 
are  fourteen  years  of 
age  be  brought  before 
him. 
Joachim  and  Anna 
bring   forth   Mary. 


Mary  wishes  to  remain 
chaste. 

The  bishop  asks  God 
for  guidance  and  the 
Angel  tells  him  to 
send  for  David's  kin- 
dred and  bid  them 
present  their  rods. 


Mary's  Betrothal 

X.  Ysakar   issues   the   command   that  all   maidens   who 
are  fourteen  years  of  age  be  brought  before  him. 


Joachim  and  Anna  prepare  to  obey  the  bishop's 
command.  They  bring  Mary  to  the  Temple,  but 
there  is  no  allusion  throughout  the  play  to  her 
having  lived   in  the  Temple. 

Mary  tells  the  story  of  her  parents'  vow  and  says 
that  she  wishes  to  live  in  chastity. 

Bishop  prays  for  advice  and  is  told  to  send  for  the 
sons  of  David  and  to  bid  them  present  their  rods. 


H 


12 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


(A  new  division  also 
numbered  10.)  A 
messenger  is  sent. 
The  presentation  of  the 
wands.  When  Jo- 
seph offers  his  rod,  it 
bursts  into  bloom. 


He  pledges  his  wife  to 
live   in   chastity. 

The  bishop  gives  her 
three  maidens  that 
she  may  have  some 
comfort. 


X.   (A     new     aivision     aiso  The  messengers  go.     Joseph  grumbles  but  is  finally 

persuaded  to  come  to  the  Temple. 

The  presentation  of  the  rods.  Joseph  does  not  at 
first  present  his  rod,  but  when  he  does  so,  it 
bursts  into  bloom. 

Upon  being  told  that  he  is  to  wed  Mary,  he  protests 
that  he  is  too  old,  but  is  finally  prevailed  upon.  , 

He  pledges  her  to  live  in  chastity. 

Marriage  ceremony  performed  by  bishop.  He  gives 
Mary  three  maidens  :  Susanne.  Rebecca,  Sephore, 
each  of  whom  in  turn  expresses  her  willingness 
to  go. 

Mary  bids  her  parents  farewell. 

Joseph  goes  to  prepare  a  home,  bids  Mary  wait  there 
and  worship  God. 

He  returns  and  brings  Mary  to  Nazareth,  says  he 
must  leave  her  again  and  labor  for  their  sus- 
tenance in  a  far  country. 

Salutation    and    Conception 

XI.  xi.  Contemplacio's    Prologue.      For    four    thousand    six  (11) 

hundred  and  four  years  man  has  suffered  for 
sin  in  hell.  Now  may  God  have  mercy  and  re- 
member the  prayer  of  Isaiah,  etc. 
The  Four  Daughters  of  God.  Virlutes :  "Our  office 
is  to  present  prayers.  Mercy  we  cry,  etc."  They 
speak  of  the  fall  of  Lucifer.  Deus  says  he  will 
prepare  a  way  of  salvation.  The  four  daughters 
of  God  dispute.  The  Son  comes  forth  and  sug- 
gests that  one  who  is  guiltless  must  die  as  an 
atonement  for  man's  sin. 
Council  of  the  Trinity,  in  which  the  plans  for  man's 

salvation  are  made. 
God  sends  Gabriel  to  Mary.     The  Son  says  he  is 
to  be  born  of  Mary.     The  Holy  Ghost  says  that 
he  will  perform  this  miracle. 
Gabriel       salutes      Our  Gabriel  salutes  Mary.    Holy  Ghost  descends.     They 

Lady.         The       three  depart. 

maidens  hear  voices 
but  see  no  one.  The 
angel  says  her  son 
shall  be  called  Jesus. 

Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary. 

xii.   (The  word   "hellenthe"      xii.  Joseph  returns,  says  he  can  not  see  Mary's  face  for  (j2) 
crossed  out.)     Joseph  the  light  that  surrounds  it.     Mary  explains  that 

returns.  it  is  ordained  by  God  that  whoever  beholds  her 

shall  be  "grettly  steryd  to  vertu." 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


13 


He  is  troubled;  leaves 
Mary,  thinking  never 
to  return. 


An  angel  tells  him  the 
story  and  Joseph 
goes  back. 


Joseph  realizes  Mary's  condition  and,  after  he  has 
debated  whether  or  not  to  expose  her  before  the 
bishop,  resolves  to  leave  her  forever. 

Mary  prays  that  God  will  convince  him.  God  com- 
mands an  angel  to  visit  Joseph. 

The  angel  explains  to  Joseph ;  he  returns  home 
and  is   reconciled. 


Mary's  Visit  to  Elizabeth 

xiii.  Mary  wishes  to  go  to  visit  EHzabeth,  and  Joseph  (13) 
gives  his  consent. 

Contemplacio's  Prologue.  King  David  ordained 
twenty-four  priests  to  serve  in  the  Temple.  They 
were  called  "summi  sacerdotes."  One  was  prince 
of  priests,  Zachariah ;  his  wife  was  Elizabeth;  the 
story  of  the  annunciation  to  Elizabeth  and  how 
Zacharias  was  made  dumb. 

Mary  and  Joseph  arrive  at  the  house  of  Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth  greets  Mary  as  the  Mother  of  God. 
Each  of  the  women  tells  the  story  of  her  an- 
nunciation. 

Mary  repeats  the  Magnificat  in  Latin  and  Elizabeth 
translates  it,  sentence  for  sentence,  into  English. 

Mary  says  she  will  stay  with  Elizabeth  three  months 
until  the  child  shall  be  born. 

Joseph  greets  Zacharias.  EHzabeth  explains  why 
Zacharias  can  not  speak,  and  Joseph  seeks  to 
comfort  him. 

Joseph  and  Mary  go  home.  Elizabeth  and  Zach- 
arias go  to  the  Temple. 

Contemplacio's  Epilogue.  Says  he  will  give  a  con- 
clusion (as  promised  in  Contemplacio's  prologue 
to  the  whole  group  of  plays).  Here  we  see  how 
the  Ave  Maria  was  made.  The  Angel  said,  "Ave, 
gratia  plena,  Dominus  tecum,  Benedicta  tu  in 
mulieribus."  16  And  Elizabeth  said  ,"Et  benedictus 
fructus  ventris  tui."  '^'^  Thus  the  church  added 
Mary  and  Jesus.  Who  says  Our  Lady's  psalter 
daily  for  a  year  shall  have  pardon  ten  thousand 
eight  hundred  years. 

Mary  remained  with  Elizabeth  three  months 
until  John  was  born,  and  then  Zacharias  re- 
gained his  speech.  They  composed  the  Benedictus 
and  the  Magnificat.  Then  Our  Lady  took  her 
leave.  We  thank  you ;  with  Ave  we  began  and 
with  Ave  is  our  conclusion. 


l«Halliwell,  p.    112. 


"HalHwell,  p.   126. 


14 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


xiv.  This  pageant  shall  be 
of  the  trial  of  Jo- 
seph and  Mar3^ 
How  they  were  slan- 
dered (a  simple  quat- 
rain), 


And  must   go   to    their 
purgation. 


XIV. 


Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary 

Den  calls  the  court ;  calls  a  long  list  of  names,  John 
Jurdon,  Geffry  Gyle,  etc. 

"Hie   intrabit  pagentum  de  purgatione  Mariae  et  (14) 
Joseph." 

Two  detractors,  "Bakbytere"  and  "Reyse-sclaundyr," 
meet  and  tell  the  gossip  about  Mary,  resolving 
to  spread  the  news  in  all  quarters. 

The  court  scene.  The  Episcopus  (called  in  the 
stage-direction  Abizachar,  as  in  Prologue  to 
Mary's  Betrothal),  having  heard  the  slander, 
sends  for  Joseph  and  Mary.  They  are  summoned 
by  Den.     Trial. 

Joseph  goes  through  the  purgation  ceremony  and 
proves  his  innocence. 

Mary  goes  through  the  purgation  and  proves  her 
innocence. 

First  detractor  drinks  potion  and  falls  to  the 
ground.    AH  kneel  to  Mary. 


XV. 


Joseph  goes  after  mid- 
wives  (a  simple  quat- 
rain). 


xvi.  Christ   shall   be   born. 


XV, 


Joseph  and  the  Midwives 

Joseph  and  Mary  start  for  Bethlehem. 

The  Cherry-tree  episode. 

They  are  directed  by  a  citizen  of  Bethlehem  to  the 
stable  where  they  find  shelter. 

Joseph  goes  for  midwives ;  Salome  and  Zelomye  re- 
turn with  him. 

When  they  arrive,  they  can  not  enter  the  house  for 

the  brightness  of  the  light  in  it. 
Joseph    finally   enters   and   finds    that    the   child    is 

already  born. 
Test  of  Mary's  virginity;  Salome's  punishment  and 

forgiveness. 


(IS) 


Angels  shall  sing. 


XVI. 


Shepherds  shall  hear  of 

the  birth  of  Christ, 
And  shall  visit  Him 


With      reverence 
worship. 


and 


The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds 

Angels  sing,  "Gloria  in  excelsis."  (16) 

Three  shepherds,  two  of  whom  are  called  "Boosras" 
and  "Maunfras,"  speak  of  the  great  light  they 
have  seen  and  speak  of  the  prophecies,  Balaam, 
Moses  and  the  Law,  Amos,  and  Daniel. 

Angels'  song  repeated.  The  shepherds  seek  to  imi- 
tate the  song. 

They  go  to  seek  Christ,  singing  on  the  way,  "Stella 
coeli  extirpavit." 

They  adore  Christ  (a  series  of  dignified  verses  of 
adoration;  no  gifts). 

Joseph  bids  them  spread  the  tidings,  which  they 
promise  to  do,  and  take  their  farewell. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


15 


XV.  (The  attempt  to  cor- 
rect the  numbering  in 
the  Prologue  is  given 
up  here.) 
Three  kings  shall  come 
with  gold,  myrrh,  and 
frankincense. 


King  Herod's  steward 
sees  them  and  brings 
them  into  the  king's 
presence. 

The  kings  of  Cologne 
tell  Herod  of  their 
mission  and  of  the 
star,  and  of  how  thej' 
intend  to  worship 
Christ  that  day. 


The  Adoration  of  the  Magi 

xviii.   (The  number  xvii  is  omitted  in  the  MS.)  (1^) 

Herod   gives    a   long,    boastful    speech,    introducing 

and  praising  himself.     He  leaves  to  go  into  his 

hall  to  change  his  garments. 
The  three  kings  meet ;  introduce  themselves  to  each 

other :    first,  Baltazare  from  Saba,  bearing  gold ; 

second,   Melchizar  from   Tarys,  bearing  incense ; 

third,  Jasper  from  Ypotan  and  Archage,  bearing 

myrrh. 
Herod    in    another    boastful    speech    brags    of    his 

beauty  and  fine  apparel  as  well  as  his  power.    He 

has  heard  that  a  child  is  born  in  Bethlehem.    He 

sends  his  steward  out  to  see  if  there  is  any  trouble 

abroad. 
The  steward  finds  the  three  kings  sleeping  under  a 

tree,  and  he  brings  them  to  Herod's  court.    They 

tell    Herod    of    their    mission,    of    the    star,    of 

Balaam's  prophecy,  etc.     Herod  bids   them  seek 

the  child  and  report  to  him. 


The  kings  take  their  leave,  while  Herod  expresses 
his  wrath.    The  kings  see  the  star  again. 

They  adore  Christ,  offering  him  gifts.  They  pre- 
pare to  go  back  to  Herod. 

On  the  way  they  fall  asleep  and  the  angel  warns 
them.  The  kings  awake,  tell  of  the  vision,  re- 
solving not  to  go  back  to  Herod. 

The  Purification 

xix.     Simeon  Justus,  priest  in  Jerusalem,  prays  that  he  (18  ) 
may  see  the  Savior  before  he  dies.    An  angel  re- 
assures him. 

Simeon  and  Anna  rejoice;  they  go  to  the  Temple, 
prophesy  Christ's  death,  etc. 

Joseph  and  Mary  come  to  the  Temple.  Simeon  and 
Anna  hail  Christ.     "Nunc  diniittis  servum  tuum." 

Service  in  Temple.  They  burn  four  candles  in 
honor  of  Christ.  The  child  offered  on  the  altar. 
Joseph  pays  five  pence  to  take  the  child  back  again. 
Capellanus  gives  them  back  the  child. 

Mary  offers  the  fowls  on  the  altar. 


XVI. 


Slaughter  of  Innocents  and  Death  of  Herod 

XX.     Senescallus    returns    and    reports    that    the    Magi  (19) 
have  fled. 


16  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

Herod,  angry,  sends  sol-  Herod  raves  (a  long  alliterative  speech).    He  sends 

diers  out  to  slay  the  soldiers    to    slay    all    the    children    in    Bethlehem 

children,  under  two  years  of  age.    Two  soldiers  leave. 

But    Jesus     is     not    to  An  angel  appears  to  Joseph  and  warns  him.     He 

be    found,    for   in   re-  takes  Mary  and  the  child  to  Egypt. 

sponse  to  the  angel's 

warning,  he  has  gone 

to  Egypt. 
The    children    are    torn  "Tunc  ibunt  milites  ad  pueros."     Two  women  la- 

from    their    mothers'  ment  the  loss  of  their  children. 

arms  and  slain, 
xvii.  The  soldiers  bring  the  The  soldiers  report.     Herod  is  pleased  and  orders 

slaughtered      children  a  feast. 

before  Herod.    Herod 

rejoices  and  orders  a 

feast. 
Death   enters,  The  banquet   scene,   merry-making.     Death   enters, 

says  he   is  sent  by  God  to  slay  Herod.     Herod 
bids  his  soldiers  rejoice.    The  minstrels  play. 
Mors  slays  Herod  and  the  two  soldiers. 
And  the  devil  takes  his  The  Devil  carries  them  off.     Mors  moralizes. 

soul. 

In  this  part  of  the  cycle  we  meet  with  greater  complications  and  more 
difficult  problems.  The  evidences  of  revision  are  much  more  marked  than 
in  the  Old  Testament  plays.  Four  of  the  plays  are  not  provided  for  at  all 
in  the  Prologue,  and  it  seems  probable  that  they  have  been  added  as  a  whole 
to  the  cycle.  Many  of  the  plays  that  are  demanded  by  the  Prologue  bear 
distinct  evidences  of  having  been  reworked  to  such  an  extent  that  they  are 
practically  new.  For  the  sake  of  clearness  it  seems  best  to  treat  each  play 
separately,  discussing  its  relation  to  the  general  Prologue,  its  meter  and 
stage-directions,  and  any  peculiarities  that  may  appear  in  the  manuscript. 

Moses  and  the  Laws 

The  direction,  "Tncipit  Moyses,"  is  written  very  conspicuously  in  large 
letters  at  the  top  of  the  page,  a  thing  which  seems  to  indicate  that  the  first 
five  plays  had  constituted  a  separate  unit,  and  that  this  is  the  beginning  of 
a  new  group.  This  would  place  the  Processus  Prophetarum,  of  which  this 
play  is  essentially  a  part,  with  the  Nativity  group  rather  than  with  the  Old 
Testament  plays."  This  play,  however,  ends  with  the  direction,  "Explicit 
Moyses,"  indicating  that  it  stood  alone  as  a  separate  unit. 

The  stage-directions  of  the  play  are  all  very  simple  and  written  entirely 
in  Latin,  a  thing  which  leads  one  to  infer  that  the  play  has  kept  its  early 
and  rather  primitive  form.  The  meter  too  is  simple.  With  but  one  very 
minor  irregularity  of  rhyme,  where  a  couplet  precedes  the  regular  stanza,  the 

18  In  this  connection  cf.  Dr.  Hardin  Craig's  article,  The  Origin  of  the  Old  Testament  Plavs  in 
Mod.  Phil.  X  'April,  1913).  ' 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  17 

double  quatrain  is  used  throughout.  There  is  nothing  in  the  style  or  action 
of  the  play  to  indicate  that  it  has  been  revised  by  a  later  hand.  But  the  in- 
troduction of  the  burning  bush  in  a  play  of  the  Laws  presents  an  interesting 
complication.  This  incident  would  properly  belong  in  an  Exodus  play,  and 
its  presence  here  may  be  a  confusion  of  the  Exodus  with  a  play  of  the 
Laws.  The  Chester  cycle  has  no  episode  of  the  burning  bush;  but  in  the 
York  and  Towneley,  where  the  incident  occurs,  it  is  found  in  the  Exit  from 
Egypt  and  the  Pharaoh  respectively.  The  play  of  the  Ten  Commandments 
occurs  in  the  Towneley  cycle  in  the  play  called  Processus  Prophetarum,  in 
the  Chester,  in  the  Pagina  de  Mose  et  Rege  Balaak  et  Balaam  Propheta. 
York,  having  no  regular  Processus  Prophetarum,  has  also  no  play  of  Moses 
and  the  Laws. 

The  Prophets 

Although  this  play  does  not  begin  with  an  "Incipit,"  it  ends  with  the 
direction,  "Explicit  Jesse,"  which  is  the  only  stage-direction  in  the  play.  It 
presents  no  peculiarities  of  manuscript  except  that  a  genealogy  of  Mary, 
similar  to  the  genealogies  of  the  first  group,  begins  on  folio  37  and  is  con- 
tinued on  folio  37b. 

The  play  is  written  in  the  double  quatrain  measure  of  the  preceding  play. 
From  the  time  Solomon  enters  each  character  speaks  only  four  lines,  but 
the  single  quatrains  thus  formed  can  in  every  case  be  united  to  form  the 
typical  double  quatrain,  ababbcbc. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  Prologue  states  that  prophets  shall  prophesy, 
not  of  Christ,  but  of  a  "qwene  the  whiche  xal  staunche  our  stryfl  and  moote"  ; 
and  an  examination  of  the  prophecies  will  show  that  the  emphasis  lies 
upon  the  birth  of  the  Virgin,  and  not  of  Christ.  The  introduction  of 
thirteen  kings,  all  of  whom  announce  themselves  as  progenitors  of  Mary, 
shows  this  tendency,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  there  are  no  less  than  fifteen 
direct  references  to  the  Virgin  in  these  prophecies.  In  the  Towneley  Pro- 
cessus Prophetarum  Mary  is  mentioned  directly  only  once,  in  the  prophecy 
of  Daniel,"  and  there  the  main  part  of  the  prophecy  concerns  Christ.  The 
Towneley  Shepherds'  play  introduces  the  traditional  prophecy  from  Isaiah, 
and  also  mentions  the  prefiguration  of  the  Virgin  in  the  burning  bush.  But 
neither  here  nor  in  the  cycles  of  York  and  Chester  is  the  attention  so  con- 
stantly directed  to  the  Virgin.  The  fact  that  the  Prologue  specifically  pro- 
vides for  prophecies  of  this  nature  indicates  that  the  unusual  interest  in 
Virgin  Mary  was  a  peculiarity  of  the  cycle  originally  and  not  to  be  ascribed 
wholly  to  the  period  of  revision. 

The  following  table  of  the  prophecies  found  in  the  four  cycles  will  serve  to 
show  more  clearly  how  Ludus  Coz'^n/ria^  is  distinguished  from  the  other  plays. 

19  The  Towneley  Mysteries,  E.  E.  T.  S.,  p.  64,  I.  232. 


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26  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

After  these  two  plays,  which  are  comparatively  simple,  we  have  the  in- 
troduction of  an  Expositor  who  is  called  Contemplacio.  He  recites,  before 
the  play  proper  of  Anna  and  Joachim  begins,  a  general  prologue  promising 
to  present  to  the  people  (1)  the  story  of  Anna  and  Joachim,  (2)  Mary's 
presentation  in  the  Temple,  (3)  her  betrothal,  (4)  the  story  of  the  Saluta- 
tion, and,  finally,  (5)  Mary's  visit  to  Elizabeth.  In  connection  with  this  last 
play  he  promises  a  conclusion.  Then  follow  these  five  plays  dealing  with 
the  life  of  the  Virgin  which  in  general  tone  and  style  are  very  different  from 
the  plays  we  have  examined  so  far.  The  ecclesiastical  element  is  very  prom- 
inent in  these  plays,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  were  introduced 
into  the  cycle  at  some  time  later  than  the  writing  of  the  Prologue.  I  do  not 
think,  however,  that  an  entirely  new  group  of  plays  was  simply  incorpor- 
ated as  a  whole  into  the  cycle  without  any  modification.  Some  of  the  plays 
indicate  clearly  that  old  material  has  been  combined  with  new.  The  Pro- 
logue provides  for  plays  on  two  of  these  subjects,  Mary's  Betrothal  and  the 
Salutation,  The  other  three  plays  promised  by  Contemplacio  are  not  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Prologue,  and  in  the  case  of  the  first  two,  the  Barrenness 
of  Anna  and  Mary's  Presentation,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  are 
entirely  new.  The  Visit  to  Elizabeth,  however,  bears  internal  evidence  of 
the  combination  of  two  versions. 

This  Contemplacio  does  not  appear  again  after  this  group  of  Virgin 
plays  and  is  probably,  as  Collier  states,  one  of  the  later  additions  to  the 
cycle.^*' 

With  this  group  of  plays  the  tumbling  meter  makes  its  reappearance,  and 
here,  too,  we  have  for  the  first  time  the  introduction  of  English  stage- 
directions.  Throughout  the  whole  group  of  plays  dealing  with  the  Nativity, 
English  stage-directions  are  used  only  in  these  Virgin  plays  and  in  the  play 
of  the  Purification  which  is  also  unprovided  for  in  the  Prologue.  These 
points  will  be  discussed  more  specifically  in  connection  with  the  individual 
plays. 

The  Barrenness  of  Anna 

This  play  is  taken  up  largely  v^^ith  services  in  the  Temple,  the  singing  of 
hymns,  sequences,  etc.  It  is  distinctly  ecclesiastical  in  tone  and  is  written 
entirely  in  the  tumbling  measure,  with  a  great  deal  of  alliteration  in  the  first 
part  of  the  play.  There  are  two  or  three  little  irregularities  of  rhyme,  but 
the  play,  taken  as  a  whole,  employs  the  rhyming  scheme  of  the  double  quat- 
rain.   The  fact  that  it  is  not  accounted  for  in  the  Prologue,  taken  together 


-0  The  one  instance  in  the  Herod  play  of  the  Passion  where  the  expositor  is  called  Contem- 
placio is,  I  think,  hardly  to  be  considered  as  a  reappearance  of  that  character.  It  seems  probable 
that  it  suggested  itself  to  the  scribe  that  it  would  be  well  to  call  the  expositor  in  the  later  play  by 
the  same  name  as  the  similar  character  in  the  earlier  group. 


LUDUS  COJ'ENTRIAE  27 

with  this  use  of  the  tumbling  meter,  seems  to  indicate  beyond  any  doubt  that 
the  whole  play  is  an  interpolation. 

Here,  too,  we  have  our  first  English  stage-direction/There  they  xall  synge 
this  sequens,  'Benedicta,  etc.,'  and  in  that  tyme  Ysaker  with  his  ministeres 
insensythe  the  autere  and  than  thei  make  her  offryng,  and  Isaker  sevth,  etc." 
And  from  this  point  English  stage-directions  are  used  freely,  though  not 
exclusively,  throughout  the  Contemplacio  group.  In  this  play  and  the  fol- 
lowing the  bishop  is  given  the  name  Ysaker,  but  in  the  general  Prologue  to 
the  tenth  play,  as  well  as  in  the  play  of  the  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  he 
is  called  Abyacar.  So  that  it  would  seem  that  Abyacar  is  his  cycle  name.  In 
this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  manuscript  (folio  37b) 
in  the  genealogy  there  is  a  note  to  the  effect  that  Ysaker  was  the  father  of 
Anne.  The  name  Ysaker  (Issachar)  is  derived  from  the  Gospel  of  the 
Nativity  of  Mary;  Abiathar  from  Pseudo-Matthew. 

The  Presentation  of  Mary  in  the  Temple 

This  play,  like  the  preceding,  is  not  provided  for  in  the  general  Prologue 
and  comes  into  the  cycle  as  entirely  new.  It  also  is  filled  with  ecclesiastical 
material,  such  as  the  fifteen  psalms  that  Mary  recites  when  she  ascends  the 
fifteen  steps  in  the  Temple,  the  allegorical  names  given  to  her  maids  and  to 
the  seven  priests  who  are  to  instruct  her,  the  significance  of  the  five  letters 
in  her  name,  and  so  forth. 

The  manuscript  shows  no  distinct  division  between  these  two  plays ; 
Contemplacio's  introductory  speech-^  follows  immediately  upon  Anne's  last 
speech  in  the  preceding  play,  and  the  figure  9  also  stands  in  the  margin  here. 
Then  we  have,  following  immediately,  the  direction,  "Here  Joachym  and 
Anna,  with  oure  lady  between  hem,  etc."  After  this  there  is  a  short  space 
left  blank  before  Joachim's  speech,  "Blyssyd  be  oure  Lord  .  .  .,"  which 
begins  at  the  top  of  the  next  folio,  49b. 

The  stage-directions  are  in  both  English  and  Latin.  The  meter,  like  that 
of  the  former  play,  is  the  tumbling  measure.  The  stanzas  are  largely  double 
quatrains,  but  with  occasional  single  quatrains,  particularly  in  the  part 
where  Mary  recites  her  fifteen  psalms.  Contemplacio's  speech  at  the  end  of 
the  play  shows  a  confusion,  as  far  as  rhyme  scheme  is  concerned,  of  the  quat- 
rain with  the  prologue  stanza  thus :  ababcdcdbebefgggf. 

Contemplacio  introduces  this  play  with  a  prologue  that  reviews  the  play 
of  Anna  and  Joachim  before  it  tells  what  is  to  follow  in  this  play.  At  the  end 
of  the  play  Contemplacio  gives  an  epilogue  reviewing  this  one  play  and  also 
introducing  the  two  which  are  to  follow  it.  In  the  manuscript  the  figure  10 
is  written  opposite  this  second  part  of  Contemplacio's  speecli,  and  if  this 

21  Halliwell,  p.  79. 


28  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

part  be  regarded  as  a  prologue  to  the  following  play,  each  of  the  five  plays 
mentioned  in  Contemplacio's  first  general  prologue  are  specially  intro- 
duced by  that  character.  And,  regarding  the  first  four  lines  of  his  prologue 
to  this  play  of  the  Presentation  of  Mary-  as  an  epilogue  to  the  play  of  Anna 
and  Joachim,  three  of  the  five  plays  have  a  conclusion  or  epilogue  recited 
by  this  same  Contemplacio. 

This  character  would  not  appear  on  one  pageant  and  recite  his  epilogue 
and  then  suddenly  appear  on  the  next  and  recite  a  prologue  to  that  play. 
There  are  no  directions  to  this  effect,  nor  does  it  seem  possible  that  he  could 
do  so.  Moreover,  the  characters  of  these  five  plays  are  much  the  same. 
Anna  and  Joachim  appear  in  the  first  three ;  Mary  plays  in  all  of  them ; 
Joseph  appears  in  the  Betrothal  and  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth  ;  the  bishop  Ysakar 
or  Abyacar  appears  in  the  first  three.  So  that  evidently  these  five  plays,  as 
they  now  stand,  were  acted  on  the  same  stage  as  one  continuous  performance, 
whether  on  a  pageant  or  a  fixed  stage. 

Mary's  Betrothal 

The  material  covered  in  this  play  is  provided  for  by  the  general  Pro- 
logue, but  it  is  divided  into  two  pageants,  one  of  which,  originally  num- 
bered 8,  treats  of  Mary's  appearance  in  the  Temple  for  espousal ;  and  the 
other,  originally  numbered  9,  treats  of  the  presentation  of  the  rods.  As  they 
now  stand  they  are  both  numbered  10.  It  seems  that  the  scribe  attempted 
at  first  to  make  the  numbering  of  the  Prologue  agree  with  the  plays.  He 
soon  abandoned  his  attempt,  however,  as  may  be  seen  by  looking  at  the  pre- 
ceding table  of  comparison  between  Prologue  and  plays. 

The  first  section  of  the  Prologue  carries  the  action,  from  the  bishop's 
proclamation  that  the  daughters  of  the  Jews  shall  be  presented  for  marriage 
to  the  angel's  command  that  David's  kindred  shall  be  sent  for  and  that  they 
shall  carry  white  rods  in  their  hands.  The  second  part  continues  the  action, 
presenting  the  blossoming  of  Joseph's  rod,  and  so  on  to  the  marriage.  The 
actual  incidents  of  the  play  correspond  exactly  with  those  mentioned  in  the 
Prologue,  as  far  as  the  latter  goes.  But  there  seems  to  be  an  elaboration  of 
certain  scenes  introducing  church  ceremonies  (such  as  that  of  the  marriage 
ceremony,  which  is  given  in  detail)  that  are  not  in  keeping  with  the  general 
simplicity  of  the  earlier  plays  of  the  cycle.  The  Prologue  ends  with  the 
statement  that  the  bishop  gives  Mary  three  maidens  to  live  with  her  and  wait 
upon  her.  These  maidens  are  given  names  in  the  play,  Rebecca,  Susanne, 
and  Sephore.  Then  the  play  goes  on  to  relate  how  Joseph  left  Mary  at  the 
Temple,  went  to  Nazareth,  rented  a  house,  and  came  back  to  bring  his  wife 
to  their  new  home.    Pie  then  leaves  her  again  to  go  into  a  far  country  to  earn 

22  Halliwell,  p.   79. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  29 

means  for  their  sustenance.    Of  all  this  there  is  no  mention  in  the  general 
Prologue. 

Another  notable  circumstance  is  that,  whereas  in  the  preceding  play- 
Mary  is  left  at  the  Temple  with  the  understanding  that  she  is  to  remain 
there  until  her  fourteenth  year,  in  this  play  she  is  brought  to  the  Temple  by 
her  parents  and  no  mention  is  made  of  her  having  been  there  before.  So  also 
in  his  epilogue  to  the  preceding  play,  Contemplacio  speaks  of  this  play  as 
taking  place  fourteen  years  after  the  Presentation  instead  of  eleven  years. 

The  story  of  the  presentation  of  the  rods  is  old  material  and  generally 
known  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  Though  it  is  not  actually  presented 
in  any  of  the  other  cycles,  it  is  mentioned  both  in  the  Towneley  and  York 
cycles.-^  This  circumstance,  together  with  the  closeness  of  parallel  between 
the  Prologue  and  the  play,  makes  it  evident  that  the  play  as  a  whole  does  not 
belong  to  the  period  of  revision.  What  probably  took  place  seems  to  me  tq 
be  this :  When  the  scribe  came  to  add  a  new  Virgin  play,  he  found  in  the 
old  cycle  a  play  on  this  same  subject  of  the  Betrothal  of  Mary  which  cor- 
responded pretty  closely  with  the  section  of  the  Virgin  play  dealing  with 
this  subject ;  so  he  used  the  old  play  as  a  basis  and  possibly  borrowed  little 
touches  here  and  there  from  the  Virgin  play.  The  elaboration  of  the  mar- 
riage ceremony  and  the  adding  of  the  incidents  which  follow  may  be  ac- 
counted for  in  this  wa}'. 

A  study  of  the  metrical  arrangement  of  the  play  supports  such  a  conclu- 
sion. There  is  very  little  use  of  the  tumbling  line  which  is  elsewhere  charac- 
teristic of  the  Virgin  play.  It  appears  distinctly  only  in  the  scenes  where  the 
bishop  consults  with  his  minister-*  and  where  he  pronounces  the  marriage 
vows  for  Joseph  and  Mary.  The  main  body  of  the  play  is  in  the  prologue 
meter,  and  other  parts  are  written  in  the  simple  double  quatrain  stanza. 

In  this  same  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  the  stage- 
directions  of  this  play  are  in  Latin. 

This  section  of  the  manuscript  also  presents  some  puzzling  problems. 
Folios  51b,  52b,  53b  are  blank,  while  on  folio  51  Joseph's  speech,  beginning 
"In  gret  labore  my  lyff  I  lede,"  and  ending  "To  some  man  dowty  and  bold,"-'' 
is  written  in  a  later  hand.  It  is  also  out  of  place  and  should  be  inserted,  as 
noted  in  the  manuscript,  after  line  7  on  folio  53. 

The  Salutation  and  Conception 

With  this  play  we  have  the  reappearance  both  of  the  ecclesiastical  tone 
and  of  English  stage-directions.  The  general  Prologue  to  the  cycle  men- 
tions Gabriel's  visit  to  the  Virgin  and  also  states  that  the  three  maidens 
waited  upon  her,  heard  the  conversation  between  Mary  and  the  Angel  but 

23  The  Towneley  Mysteries,  E.  E.  T.  S.,  p.  93;   York,  p.  103. 

24  Halliwell,   p.   93.  2B  rtalliwell,  pp.   94-95. 


30  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

saw  no  one.  The  three  maidens  do  not  appear  at  all  in  the  play  as  we  now 
have  it,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  action  is  taken  up  with  Contemplacio's 
explanation  of  how  mankind  had  suffered  four  thousand  six  hundred  and 
four  years,  and  the  debate  between  the  four  daughters  of  God,  the  council 
of  the  Trinity,  Gabriel's  instructions,  and  so  forth,  all  of  which  must 
undoubtedly  belong  to  our  ecclesiastical  Virgin  play.  This  ecclesiastical 
tone  so  pervades  the  whole  play  that  it  would  almost  seem  as  if  none  of  the 
original  cycle  play  had  been  preserved  and  that  this  play,  like  the  Barrenness 
of  Anna  and  Mary's  Presentation,  had  been  substituted  entirely  from  the 
Virgin  play.  Mr.  Hemingway  reaches  much  the  same  conclusion. -**  In  this 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  greater  part  of  the  play,  beginning 
with  the  speech  of  Justice'-^  to  the  end  of  the  play,  is  written  in  a  different 
hand. 

The  tumbling  meter  makes  its  appearance  in  this  play  in  two  instances, 
the  first  three  stanzas  of  Contemplacio's  speech  and  the  last  stanza  of 
Gabriel's  speech.-®  Otherwise  the  play  as  a  whole  is  written  in  simple  double 
and  single  quatrains. 

Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary 

Joseph's  return  was  not  mentioned  in  Contemplacio's  prologue,  nor  does 
Contemplacio  appear  in  this  play.  It  probably  does  not  belong  to  the  Vir- 
gin play,  but  to  the  original  cycle.  The  incidents  are  simple  and  there  is  a 
comparatively  consistent  relationship  with  the  Prologue,  although  little 
touches  here  and  there,  such  as  the  halo  surrounding  Mary's  face  upon 
Joseph's  return,  seem  to  have  an  ecclesiastical  quality. 

The  play  has  no  stage-directions  and  the  basal  meter  is  the  prologue 
stanza.  The  first  twenty  lines  of  the  play  seem  to  be  a  confusion  of  single 
and  double  quatrains.  Then,  beginning  at  the  bottom  of  page  117  in  Halli- 
well's  edition  to  the  last  stanza  on  page  119,  with  two  minor  irregularities  of 
rhyme,  we  find  the  prologue  meter.  This  verse  form  is  again  resumed  in 
the  last  thirteen  lines  on  page  121,  where  the  angel  speaks  to  Joseph,  and 
also  in  the  last  stanza  on  page  122,  where  Mary  and  Joseph  are  reconciled. 
After  the  first  four  lines  of  page  119,  we  have  the  appearance  for  the  first 
time  of  our  fifth  type  of  verse,  aabaabbcbc.  It  is  carried  on  from  this 
point,  with  three  exceptions  where  we  have  the  prologue  stanza,  to  the 
last  stanza  of  the  play.  The  last  twelve  lines  show  the  same  sort  of  confusion 
of  quatrains  that  we  find  in  the  first  part  of  the  play.  There  is  no  appearance 
of  the  tumbling  meter. 


20  Hemingway,  English  Nativitv  Plays,  Intro,  p.  xxxv.  For  a  comparison  of  this  play  with 
others,  see  Hemingway,  Intro,  p.  xliv;  and  Pollard,  English  Miracle  Plays,  Ed.  1909,  pp.  xxix,  226; 
also  Miss  Traver's  Four  Daughters  of  God,  Bryn  Mawr  Diss.,   1907. 

2THalliweIl,  p.  110.  28  Halliwell,  pp.  105,  106,  116. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  31 

Mary's  Visit  to  Elizabeth 

There  is  no  provision  for  the  Visit  to  EHzabeth  in  the  general  Prologue, 
and  the  play  as  it  now  stands  belongs  largely  to  the  ecclesiastical  play. 
Nevertheless,  it  seems  improbable  that  the  scene  should  have  been  entirely 
omitted.  It  seems  possible  to  me  that  the  section  of  the  general  Prologue 
devoted  to  this  play  was  omitted  in  the  rewriting  that  took  place  when  the 
Virgin  play  was  added,  or  at  some  earlier  period  of  revision.  The  Pro- 
logue bears  evidence  of  having  been  tampered  with  here,  since  the  next  two 
sections,  introducing  the  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary  and  Joseph  and  the 
Midwives  are  written  in  simple  quatrains  instead  of  the  regular  prologue 
stanza.  Moreover,  although  the  birth  of  Jesus  actually  takes  place  in  the 
play  of  Joseph  and  the  Midwives,  it  is  ascribed  by  the  Prologue  to  the  play 
of  the  Shepherds.  From  its  position  in  the  liturgy  it  is  very  probable  that 
the  play  of  the  Shepherds  stood  in  general  for  the  Nativity. ^^  I  think  it 
probable  that  the  two  plays  which  follow  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth,  with  their 
sections  in  the  Prologue,  are  additions  to  the  original  Corpus  Christi  cycle, 
though  not  parts  of  the  Virgin  play,  since  this  ends  with  the  Visit  to 
Elizabeth. 

The  play  of  Mary's  Visit,  as  it  now  stands,  bears  internal  evidence  that 
two  plays  have  been  combined  to  form  it.  After  Elizabeth  has  greeted  Mary 
with  the  Ave  Maria  and  they  have  recited  the  MagniUcat,  Mary  says  that 
she  will  stay  with  Elizabeth  three  months.  Then  almost  immediately  she  and 
Joseph  take  their  leave.  At  the  end  of  the  play,  however,  Contemplacio 
says  that  Mary  remained  with  Elizabeth.  So  that  it  would  appear  that  in 
one  version,  probably  that  of  the  original  cycle,  Mary  and  Joseph  left  as 
they  do  here ;  but  that  in  the  ecclesiastical  play  they  remained  with  Elizabeth 
three  months,  until  John  was  born. 

The  inconsistency  of  the  play  of  Mary's  Visit  to  Elizabeth  indicates  not 
only  that  this  play  is  made  up  from  two  different  sources,  but  also  furnishes 
evidence  to  substantiate  our  theory  as  to  the  composition  of  the  whole  group. 
In  the  Virgin  play  Mary  remained  with  Elizabeth  three  months,  until  John 
was  born.  But  John  was  six  months  older  than  Jesus,  so  that  in  this  play 
the  visit  must  have  been  thought  of  as  taking  place  immediately  after  the 
Salutation,  In  the  original  cycle,  on  the  other  hand,  we  believe  that  the 
plays  came  in  this  order,  namely,  Betrothal,  Salutation,  Joseph's  Return, 
Visit  to  Elizabeth.  Now,  in  the  Betrothal,  a  play  preserved  largely  in  its 
original  form,  Joseph  tells  Mary  that  he  must  leave  her  to  be  gone  nine 
months.^"  When  he  returns,  before  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth,  he  finds  that  Mary 
is  "great  with  child."  So  that  in  the  earlier  form  of  the  cycle  the  Saluta- 
tion must  have  taken  place  very  shortly  after  the  Betrothal,  and  the  plays 

29  Cf.  Hemingway,  p.  260.  so  Halliwell,  p.  104. 


32  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

Df  Joseph's  Trouble  and  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth,  shortly  before  the  birth  of 
Christ.  Thus  it  appears,  beyond  question,  that  the  play  of  the  Betrothal  and 
that  part  of  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth  which  indicates  that  Mary  did  not  remain 
with  Elizabeth,  are  consistent  with  each  other  and  belong  to  the  earlier  form 
of  the  cycle.  Mary's  speech  in  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth^^  indicates  clearly  that  a 
part  of  the  present  play  of  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth  belongs  with  the  Betrothal 
and  the  Return  of  Joseph,  thus  proving,  beyond  a  doubt,  not  only  that  the 
play  of  the  Visit  is  composite  in  structure,  but  that  there  was  such  a  play  in 
the  original  cycle. 

Contemplacio's  epilogue  to  this  play  is  the  conclusion  promised  in  his 
first  prologue.  It  is  didactic  and  is  concerned  for  the  most  part  with  the 
worship  of  the  Virgin.  Hemingway  calls  attention  to  the  inaccuracy  of  the 
English  translations  from  the  Latin  in  this  play  and  cites  it  as  a  proof  that 
the  original  plays  were  written  in  English.^^ 

Another  argument  in  favor  of  a  stationary  stage  for  this  Virgin  play 
appears  here  in  the  stage-direction,  "Et  sic  transiet  circa  placeam."  That  is, 
Joseph  and  Mary  walk  about  the  place  going  to  Elizabeth's  house,  while 
Contemplacio  speaks  his  prologue.  There  is  also  an  English  stage-direction 
in  this  play. 

The  play  begins  in  the  tumbling  meter,  which  is  carried  through  to  the 
twenty-fourth  line  of  page  128  in  Halliwell.  Beginning  here,  however,  and 
continuing  to  Contemplacio's  epilogue,  the  simple  double  quatrain  stanza  is 
used.  This  is  the  part  that  seems  to  belong  to  the  original  play  and  not  to 
the  Virgin  play.  The  first  and  last  stanzas  in  Contemplacio's  epilogue  are 
in  tumbling  verse,  but  it  seems  doubtful  if  those  between  are. 

This  play  marks  the  end  of  the  Virgin  cycle. 

The  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary 

This  play  is  very  different  in  tone  and  spirit  from  the  other  plays  in  the 
cycle.  The  interest  seems  to  center  upon  the  coarse  horse-play  of  the 
slanderers,  which  must  have  been  a  later  development,  but  surely  not  eccle- 
siastical in  origin.  The  Prologue  to  this  play,  as  noted  before,  is  a  simple 
quatrain.  It  does  not  adequately  represent  the  play,  but  simply  speaks  of  the 
fact  that  Joseph  and  Mary  were  slandered  and  went  to  their  purgation.  The 
purgation  scene  itself  is  simple  and  reverent  enough  and  may  possibly  have 
been  a  part  of  the  original  cycle. 

The  introductory  speech  of  Den,  with  its  long  list  of  alliterative  and 
allegorical  names,  is  written  into  the  manuscript  in  a  different  hand  before 
the  figure  14  occurs  and  belongs  probably  to  a  later  period.  It  is  followed 
by  the  direction,  "Hie  intrabit  pagentum  de  purgatione,  etc."  This  is  the 
only  place  in  the  cycle  proper  where  a  play  is  introduced  as  a  pageant. 

31  Halliwell,  p.  124,  II.   13-16.  32  Hemingway,  English  Nativity  Plays,  p.  255. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  33 

The  stage-directions  are  all  written  in  Latin.  Metrically  also  the  play  is 
very  simple.  Den's  introductory  speech  represents  a  return  to  the  linked 
ballad  measure,  aaabcccb,  but  is  a  little  irregular.  The  rest  of  the  play 
is  written  in  simple  double  quatrains,  ending  with  a  simple  quatrain.  There 
is  no  appearance  of  tumbling  meter. 

The  return  of  the  name  "Abiyacher"  for  the  bishop  rather  than  "Ysaker" 
in  this  play  is  interesting  and  may  be  regarded  as  an  additional  piece  of  evi- 
dence that  this  play  does  not  belong  to  the  Virgin  play.  However,  the  name 
is  only  written  in  parenthetically  in  one  of  the  stage-directions  and  nowhere 
in  the  play  is  the  bishop  called  Abiyacher.  He  is  always  termed  Episcopus. 
It  is  possible  that  when  the  scribe  was  writing  this  play  he  noticed  that  in  the 
general  Prologue  to  the  play  of  the  Betrothal  the  bishop  had  been  called  by 
this  name,  and  so  he  ascribed  it  to  him  here. 

Joseph  and  the  Midwives 

This  play  may  have  come  into  the  cycle  at  the  same  time  as  the  preced- 
ing play,  for  like  that  play  it  is  represented  in  the  general  Prologue  by  a 
simple  quatrain.  This  Prologue  simply  states  that  Joseph  shall  go  for  mid- 
wives.  But  the  play  presents  the  journey  to  Bethlehem  (including  the 
Cherry-tree  episode),  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  punishment  of  Salome,  etc. 
The  Cherry-tree  episode^^  is  written  in  the  tumbling  meter,  whereas  the  rest 
of  the  play  is  in  simple  double  quatrains.  This  appearance  of  the  tumbling 
meter,  as  well  as  the  use  of  the  legends  from  the  life  of  Mary,  the  mentioning 
of  the  bright  light  that  surrounds  the  stable,  etc.,  might  relate  this  play  to  the 
Virgin  play.  But  there  is  no  appearance  of  Contemplacio,  or  of  English 
stage-directions ;  nor  does  it  contain  any  distinctly  ecclesiastical  material, 
such  as  church  ritual  and  elaborate  ceremonies.  I  think  it  can  hardly  belong 
to  that  play,  but  that  it  came  into  the  cycle  earlier  from  some  other  source, 
as  suggested  before  in  the  discussion  of  Mary's  Visit  to  Elizabeth. 

The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds 

With  the  exception  that  the  Prologue  provides  for  the  actual  nativity  in 
this  play,  an  explanation  of  which  has  been  suggested  before,  the  corre- 
spondence between  Prologue  and  play  is  very  close.  The  tone  of  the  play  is 
dignified  and  reverent  in  contrast  to  the  Shepherds'  plays  of  other  cycles. 
It  seems  that  the  one  case  where  the  shepherds  seek  to  imitate  the  angels' 
song  must  be  a  later  borrowing,  for  it  is  out  of  keeping  with  the  rest  of  the 
play.  This  part  of  the  play  presents  an  interruption  of  the  meter  which 
would  seem  to  confirm  such  a  theory.  The  main  body  of  the  play  is  written 
in  the  ballad  measure,  aaabcccb,  with  two  stanzas  in  the  prologue  meter ; 

83HalliwelI,  pp.   145,   lAO. 


34  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

but  the  part  in  which  the  shepherds  imitate  the  angels  is  in  single  quatrains. 
As  in  the  Towneley  and  York  cycles,  the  shepherds  here  also  quote  from 
the  prophecies.^*  In  the  Chester  play^^  one  of  the  shepherds  says,  'The 
prophets  did  tell  thou  shold  be  our  succour."  But  there  is  no  direct  quota- 
tion of  prophecies.'® 

The  Adoration  of  the  Magi 

The  action  in  this  play  is  somewhat  elaborated,  written  in  a  sort  of 
pompous  mock-heroic  style,  with  frequent  alliteration  in  Herod's  speeches, 
and  much  variation  of  meter.  But  the  first  part  of  the  play  up  to  the 
departure  of  the  three  kings  from  Herod's  court,  follows  very  closely  the 
action  prescribed  in  the  Prologue.  It  seems  strange  that  the  Prologue  makes 
no  mention  of  the  actual  adoration  of  the  Christ  child,  and  of  the  angel's 
warning  to  the  three  kings.  However,  it  may  be  that  this  was  taken  for 
granted  and  is  implicit  in  the  gifts. 

The  basal  meter  of  the  play  seems  to  be  the  ballad  strophe  which  occurs 
in  both  long-  and  short-line  stanzas.  One  of  Herod's  speeches  is  in  the 
prologue  measure,  but  in  his  introductory  speech  Herod  employs  the  tum- 
bling line. 

The  part  of  Herod's  speech  beginning  "He  is  yong  and  I  am  olde"  and 
continuing  to  the  line,  "Herowdys  to  the  devyl  he  tryste,"'^  is  written  in  a 
different  hand. 

The  Purification 

The  Purification  play  is  a  very  simple  biblical  play,  but  its  omission  in  the 
Prologue,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  the  action  in  the  following  play  seems  to 
follow  immediately  upon  that  of  the  Three  Kings,  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  it  belongs  to  the  later  additions.  As  it  now  stands,  it  may  be  that  its 
introduction  between  the  two  parts  of  the  Herod  play,  as  a  sort  of  interlude, 
indicates  a  stationary  stage. 

Here  again  we  have  the  appearance  of  English  stage-directions  which 
are  used  almost  exclusively  throughout  the  play ;  whereas  in  the  two  parts 
of  the  Herod  play  the  directions  are  all  Latin. 

The  entire  play  is  written  in  the  same  form  of  meter  that  is  used  in  part 
of  the  play  of  Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary.  This  verse- form,  our  fifth  type 
of  verse,  aabaabbcbc,  is  not  used  elsewhere  in  the  cycle. 

**  Sec  the  table  given  in  the  discussion  of  the  Processus  Prophetarum. 

"S  Chester.  E.  E.  T.  S.,  p.  155,  I.  568. 

38  Folio  91b  in  the  manuscript  which  follows  <he  play  of  the  Shepherds  contains  a  number  of 
scratchings  but  is  otherwise  blank.  Much  of  the  writing  is  illegible,  but  the  name  William  Dere  can 
clearly  be  made  out  and  occurs  three  times  on  this  page.  The  name  John  Taylphott  of  parish  Bed- 
inton  is  also  written  here. 

"Halliwell,  pp.   168-170. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  35 

On  folio  100b  of  the  manuscript,  which  is  the  last  page  of  the  play, 
occurs  the  date  1468,  written  in  the  margin  and  apparently  by  the  scribe. 
Upon  this  fact  is  based  the  belief  that  the  greater  part  of  the  manuscript 
was  written  at  this  time. 


Slaughter  of  the  Innocents 

This  play  as  it  now  stands  includes  the  Flight  into  Eg}'pt,  the  Slaughter 
of  the  Innocents,  and  the  Death  of  Herod.  The  Prologue  divides  these 
scenes  into  two  pageants,  including  in  the  first  the  Flight  into  Egypt  and 
the  Slaughter ;  and  in  the  second  the  Death  of  Herod.  This  would  seem  to 
be  a  logical  division  and  is  probably  the  way  it  occurred  in  the  original  cycle. 
Death  is  mentioned  in  the  Prologue  as  an  allegorical  figure,  so  that  there 
seems  to  be  no  reason  to  believe  that  allegorical  figures  must  of  necessity 
be  later  additions. 

This  play  presents  two  forms  of  meter.  The  second  and  fourth  stanzas 
of  the  play,  which  constitute  the  boastful  parts  of  Herod's  first  speech,  are  in 
the  prologue  meter ;  also  the  banqueting  scene  and  the  death  of  Herod.  The 
rest  of  the  play  is  in  the  ballad  measure,  long-  and  short-line  forms  being 
used  interchangeably,  the  short  lines  usually  for  the  soldiers'  speeches. 

At  the  end  of  the  play  there  are  two  folios  of  the  manuscript,  105  and 
105b,  left  blank. 

We  have  then  in  this  Nativity  group  a  number  of  plays,  the  meter  and  style 
of  which  seem  to  indicate  that  they  come  from  various  sources.  Chief  among 
the  later  additions  to  the  cycle  is  a  very  elaborate  Virgin  play  which  must 
undoubtedly  be  ecclesiastical  in  origin.  Though  essentially  a  unit,  as  it  now 
stands  in  the  cycle  it  is  divided  into  five  separate  plays  :  ( 1 )  The  Barrenness 
of  Anna,  (2)  Mary's  Presentation  in  the  Temple,  (3)  Mary's  Betrothal,  (4) 
The  Salutation,  and  (5)  Mary's  Visit  to  Elizabeth.  The  first,  second,  and 
fourth  of  these  have  probably  come  into  the  cycle  as  entirely  new.  The  third 
seems  in  all  essentials  a  play  belonging  to  the  original  cycle  with  possible 
touches  here  and  there  from  the  ecclesiastical  source.  The  fifth  is  largely 
new,  but  seems  also  to  contain  elements  of  an  old  play.  The  Trial  of  Joseph 
and  Mary,  Joseph  and  the  Midwives,  and  the  Purification  also  represent  later 
additions  to  the  cycle,  though  not  springing  from  the  same  ecclesiastical 
source. 

Metrically  the  group  presents,  in  addition  to  the  forms  of  verse  used  in 
the  Old  Testament  plays  (the  prologue  verse,  single  and  double  quatrains, 
the  ballad  stanza),  a  new  form  aabaabbcbc  which  is  found  only  in 
Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary  and  the  Purification.  The  tumbling  meter  also 
plays  a  considerable  part  in  the  ecclesiastical  group  of  plays.    After  that  it 


36 


ESTHER  L.  SIVENSON 


i 


occurs  only  in  the  Cherry-tree  episode  and  in  Herod's  introductory  speech  in 
the  play  of  the  Magi. 

English  stage-directions  make  their  first  appearance  also  in  the  plays  of 
the  Virgin,  and  are  used  in  all  of  these  except  Mary's  Betrothal.  They  also 
appear  again  in  the  Purification,  but  otherwise  the  directions  are  in  Latin. 

GROUP  III 

xxi.  Christ  and  the  Doctors  xxiii.  The  Temptation 

xxii.  Baptism  of  Jesus  xxiv.  Woman  Taken  in  Adultery 

XXV.  The  Resurrection  of  Lazarus 


Prologue 


Plays 


Christ  and  the  Doctors 


xvui. 


Christ  at  twelve  years 
of  age  disputed  with 
the  doctors  and  over- 
came them.  They 
marveled. 

Three  days  he  was 
gone  from  his  moth- 
er. She  sought  him 
about  Jerusalem. 


XXI. 


(20) 


Preliminary  conversation :  Two  doctors  boast  of 
their  learning;  Jesus  rebukes  them  and  they  make 
fun  of  him. 

Dispute :  Jesus  asks  them  how  the  world  was  made. 
They  discuss  the  Trinity,  Christ's  divinity,  the 
prophecies  of  his  birth,  etc.  Jesus  explains  that 
Mary  was  wedded  to  Joseph  in  order  to  deceive 
the  devil,  and  so  that  she  would  not  have  to  go 
alone  into  Egypt. 

Mary  and  Joseph  enter,  find  Jesus  and  take  him 
home.     The  doctors  worship  him. 


The  Baptism  of  Jesus 


XIX. 


John  shall  baptize  Jesus 
in        Jordan.  The 

Spirit  descends ;  the 
voice  of  God. 

The  Spirit  shall  lead 
Him  to  the  wilder- 
ness to  stay  forty 
days. 


xxii.28 


(21) 


John  preaches  in  the  wilderness. 

"Ecce  vox  clamantis,  etc." 

"Penitenciam  nunc  agite ! 

Appropinquabit  regnum  coelorum." 
Jesus    approaches    and    asks   John    to   baptize    him. 

John  protests. 
Baptism  proper.    Spirit  descends;  the  voice  of  God; 

John's  testimony. 


Jesus  says  he  is  going  into  the  wilderness  for  forty 
days,  led  of  the  Spirit. 


John  preaches  to  the  people. 


•8  The  MS.  has  no  number  here. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


Z7 


KX. 


Council  in  hell,  wonder 
who  Jesus  is,  send 
Satan  to  tempt  him 
in  three  sins ; 


But      Christ 
them  all. 


answered 


The  Temptation 
xxiii.  (22) 

Council  in  hell.  Satan  is  puzzled  about  Christ, 
consults  with  Belial  and  Beelzebub.  They  de- 
cide to  test  him,  in  the  three  sins  to  which  man 
is  most  prone.     Satan  is  to  tempt  him. 

Jesus  appears  soliloquizing;  says  he  has  fasted  forty 
days,  etc. 

The  temptation:  (1)  stones  to  bread ;  (2)  fall  from 
pinnacle  of  Temple;  (3)  kneel  to  Satan.  Jesus 
sends  away  Satan  who  is  much  grieved  and  puz- 
zled. 

Angels  minister  to  Jesus. 

Jesus  preaches  resistance  to  temptation. 


The  Woman  Taken  in  Adultery 
'xxist  pagent  shall  be  of  a      xxiv. 


(23) 


woman  taken  in  adul- 
tery." 


Pharisees  conceive  a 
plan  to  convict 
Christ.  If  he  show 
the  woman  mercy,  he 
is  against  the  law  of 
Moses.  If  he  con- 
demn her,  he  is  in- 
consistent with  his 
own  preaching. 


Jesus'  long  speech ;  urges  repentance ;  talks  of 
God's  mercy. 

Conspiracy.  Scribe  and  Pharisee  are  angry  with 
Christ,  decide  that  they  must  trap  him.  Accusa- 
tor  comes  in  and  tells  them  about  the  woman. 


Scene  at  the  woman's  house.  The  woman  before 
Jesus ;  customary  scene.  Jesus  writes  on  the 
ground  while  the  Scribe  and  Pharisee  accuse.  "He 
that  is  without  sin,  etc."  They  grow  ashamed 
and  leave.  Jesus  speaks  to  the  woman,  gives  a 
little  talk  on  repentance. 


The  Resurrection  of  Lazarus 
xxii.  The    greatest    miracle      xxv. 


(24) 


that  Jesus  wrought 
was  the  resurrection 
of  Lazarus,  in  whose 
house  he  often  vis- 
ited. 
Lazarus  was  dead  for 
four  days, 


And  on  the  fourth  day 
awakened  by  Jesus. 


Lazarus    is    ill ;    his    sisters    and    four    consolatores 
seek  to  comfort  him,  but  Lazarus  asks  for  Jesus. 
Fourth  consolator  and  Nuncius  go  for  Jesus. 
Lazarus  dies  and  is  buried. 

Jesus  and  the  messengers;  says  he  will  come;  walks 
with  disciples. 

Messengers  bring  Christ's  answer  to  Mary  and 
Martha. 

Jesus  arrives;  they  go  to  the  tomb;  Lazarus  awak- 
ened.   Jesus  says  he  must  go  to  his  passion. 


38  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

As  far  as  incident  and  correspondence  with  the  Prologue  are  concerned 
this  group  of  plays  is  even  more  simple  than  the  Old  Testament  group. 
There  is  no  appearance  of  the  tumbling  meter,  nor  any  clear  evidence  of  inci- 
dents which  have  been  added  to  the  original  cycle.  There  are,  however, 
certain  elements  of  style  and  general  tone  in  two  of  the  plays,  Christ  and 
the  Doctors  and  the  Woman  Taken  in  Adultery,  which  seem  to  indicate  a 
later  period.  The  theological  discussions  between  Christ  and  the  doctors, 
such  as  the  explanations  of  the  Trinity,  the  Virgin  birth,  the  statement  that 
Mary  was  wedded  to  Joseph  in  order  to  deceive  the  devil,  and  others,^*  sound 
too  sophisticated  for  an  early  stage  of  the  plays  and  recall  the  ecclesiastical 
tone  of  the  Nativity  plays.  The  play  of  the  Doctors  in  the  York,  Towneley, 
and  Chester  cycles  is  much  more  simple,  and  is  one  and  the  same  play.*** 
In  all  of  these  the  doctors  are  discussing  the  sacredness  of  Moses'  law,  and 
Jesus,  after  he  has  told  them  that  he  has  been  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
recites  the  ten  commandments.  In  the  Towneley  cycle  this  is  preceded  by 
a  discussion,  by  the  doctors,  of  the  prophecies  concerning  Christ ;  and  in  the 
Chester  play  the  doctors  mention  these  prophecies  after  Jesus  has  left.  But 
in  none  of  these  cycles  is  there  any  discussion  of  theological  doctrines  such  as 
we  find  in  our  play. 

The  parts  of  the  play  of  the  Woman  Taken  in  Adultery  that  are  specif- 
ically covered  in  the  Prologue  are  written  in  a  quiet,  reverent  tone ;  but  the 
elaboration  in  the  first  part  of  the  play,  particularly  the  scene  at  the  woman's 
house,  introduces  much  the  same  coarse,  boisterous  style  that  we  have 
already  noted  in  the  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary.  Both  plays  are  written 
prevailingly  in  the  same  meter,  namely,  the  simple  double  quatrain  verse. 

There  seems  to  be  nothing  particularly  noteworthy  about  the  play  of  the 
Baptism  as  far  as  style  and  content  are  concerned,  except  possibly  that  the 
large  number  of  Latin  quotations  may  indicate  an  early  stage. 

In  the  play  of  the  Temptation  it  seems  strange  that  the  Prologue  makes 
no  mention  of  the  Angel's  ministering  to  Jesus  after  the  temptation ;  other- 
wise, however,  there  is  an  exact  correspondence  between  the  two. 

An  interesting  consideration  in  the  Lazarus  play  is  the  rapid  shifting  of 
scene  from  the  house  of  Lazarus  and  his  sisters  to  the  place  where  Jesus 
is  resting  with  his  disciples.  Then  we  have  Jesus  with  his  disciples  walking 
through  Judea;  then  a  scene  at  the  house  of  Lazarus  again  and,  finally, 
the  scene  at  the  tomb.  In  this  respect  the  play  reminds  one  of  the 
play  of  the  Last  Supper,  where  the  scene  of  action  alternates  between 
the  room  where  Jesus  and  the  disciples  are  eating  the  last  supper  and  the 
council  chamber ;  though  the  action  here  is  much  less  elaborate  and  there  is 


88  On  this  point,  see  York,  p.  94,  11.  25-32;  Chester,  p.  154,  1.  538. 

*"  Two  Coventry  Corpus  Chrisli  Plays,  E.  E.  T.  S.,  cUited  by  Hardin  Craig,  Introduction. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  39 

nothing  in  the  stage-directions  to  indicate  definitely  a  stationary  stage,  as 
in  the  later  play. 

Metrically  this  group  of  plays  is  extremely  simple,  only  two  forms  of 
meter  being  used.  Three  of  the  plays,  Christ  and  the  Doctors,  the  Woman 
Taken  in  Adultery,  and  Lazarus,  are  written  entirely  in  simple  double 
quatrains ;  and  the  other  two,  the  Baptism  and  the  Temptation,  entirely  in  the 
prologue  meter. 

In  this  part  of  the  cycle  there  are  no  indications  from  stage-directions 
or  from  the  manuscript,  such  as  were  found  in  the  Old  Testament  plays, 
that  the  group  was  considered  as  a  unit.  On  the  contrary  there  is  at  least 
one  blank  page  left  between  each  two  of  the  plays ;  and  the  three  plays 
that  are  written  in  the  double  quatrain  measure  are  introduced  by  a  stage- 
direction  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  an  "Incipit."  Thus  the  Doctors'  play 
is  introduced  by  this  direction,  "Modo  de  doctoribus  disputantibus  cum 
Jhesu  in  templo,"  and  ends  with  an  "Amen."  The  Woman  Taken  in  Adul- 
tery begins  "Hie  de  muliere  in  adulterio  deprehensa,"  and  ends  with  an 
"Amen."  And  finally  the  Lazarus  play  begins  with  the  direction,  "Hie 
incipit  de  suscitatione  Lazari,"  but  does  not,  however,  end  with  an  "Amen." 

With  the  other  two  plays,  the  Baptism  and  the  Temptation,  both  of  which 
are  written  in  the  prologue  meter,  the  case  seems  to  be  different.  Although 
there  is  a  page  and  a  half  left  blank  between  them  in  the  manuscript,  the 
stage-directions  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  were  acted  together.  On 
the  folio  in  the  manuscript  where  the  play  of  the  Baptism  begins"  ( folio 
112),  there  is  no  "Incipit,"  but  on  folio  111b,  which  aside  from  a  few  other 
scribbles  is  left  blank,  we  have  the  direction,  "Hie  Incipit  Johannes  Baptysta." 
There  is  no  "Amen"  in  this  play,  nor  any  "Incipit"  in  the  Temptation,  but  the 
latter  play  ends  with  an  "Amen."  But  more  significant  is,  I  believe,  the  stage- 
direction  near  the  end  of  the  play  of  the  Baptism,  after  Jesus  has  said  that 
he  is  led  of  the  Spirit  to  go  to  the  wilderness,  "Hie  Jhesus  transit  in  deser- 
tum,  dicens,  etc."*^  Then  follows  a  short  speech  by  Jesus  in  which  he  says 
that  he  is  going  to  fast  in  the  desert  for  forty  days  and  nights;  after  which 
comes  John's  sermon.  The  Temptation  play  then  opens  with  the  council  in 
hell. 

The  manuscript  in  this  part  of  the  cycle  presents  some  interesting  pe- 
culiarities, the  most  important  of  which  is  the  fact  that  the  first  speech  of 
John  the  Baptist  in  the  play  of  the  Baptism^^  is  written  in^a  diflferent  hand, 
which  may  possibly  be  of  the  same  general  period,  but  not  of  the  same 
scribe  as  that  of  the  rest  of  the  cycle.  This  new  hand  is,  I  believe,  the  same 
as  that  noted  in  the  play  of  the  Magi.  After  this  speech  the  name  "Jhesus" 
is  written  as  the  next  speaker  in  this  same  hand,  but  Jesus'  speech  begins 
on  the  next  page  in  the  scribe's  own  hand. 

«  Ilalliwell,  p.   199.  •12  Halliwell,  p.  203.  ■•S  Halliwel!,  pp.   199.  200. 


40 


ESTHER  L.  SVVENSON 


On  folio  111b  of  the  manuscript,  we  have  in  addition  to  the  "Hie  incipit 
Johannes  Baptysta,"  the  name  "John  Kinge  the  yownger"  written  in  a  later 
hand  together  with  another  scribble  that  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  decipher. 
Folios  119b,  120,  121,  and  126b  also  contain  minor  scribbles;  but  as  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  read  them,  they  do  not  seem  to  be  of  any  great  signif- 
icance. 

The  stage-directions  of  this  entire  group  are  very  simple  and  without 
exception  in  Latin. 


GROUP  IV 


XX  vi. 

Council  of  Jews  and  Entry 

xxxv. 

Release  of  Souls  from  Hell 

xxvii. 

The  Last  Supper  and  Council 

and  Report  of  Watch 

xxviii. 

The  Betrayal 

xxxvi. 

The  Three  Marys 

xxix. 

Herod  and  Trial,  Pt.  I 

xxxvii. 

Mary  Magdalen 

XXX. 

Trial,  Pt.  n 

xxxviii. 

Peregrini  and  Thomas 

xxxi. 

Pilate's    Wife's    Dream    and 

xxxix. 

Ascension 

Condemnation 

xl. 

Pentecost 

xxxii. 

Crucifixion 

xli. 

Assumption  of  Virgin 

xxxiii. 

Harrowing  of  Hell 

xlii. 

Judgment 

xxxiv. 

Burial    and    Setting    of    the 
Watch 

1 

Prologue 


Plays 


The  Council  of  the  Jezvs  and  Entry 

xxvi.  Demon's  Prologue.  Says  he  is  Lucifer  who  came  (25) 
out  of  hell,  prince  of  this  world,  etc.  His  mis- 
sion is  to  ruin  men  and  torture  them  in  hell. 
He  tells  the  story  of  his  fall ;  he  took  one-third  of 
the  angels  with  him.  He  thinks  nothing  of  get- 
ting one  thousand  souls  in  an  hour.  But  now 
he  is  troubled  about  Christ.  He  has  tried  to 
tempt  him,  but  failed  (mentions  the  three  temp- 
tations). He  is  worried  about  Christ's  growing 
popularity,  raising  Lazarus  and  forgiving  Mag- 
dalen, and  resolves  to  seek  to  confuse  him  when 
the  time  for  his  persecution  comes ;  to  bring  false 
witnesses,  induce  his  disciples  to  forsake  him  and 
thus  to  be  revenged. 
Then  he  addresses  himself  to  the  people,  urges 
them  to  follow  him,  promises  rewards,  instructs 
them. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


41 


xxiii.  The  twenty-third  pag- 
eant shall  be  of 
Palm  Sunday.  We 
shall  show  how  the 
children  of  the  He- 
brews scattered  flow- 
ers before  Christ. 


John  the  Baptist  appears,  prophesies  of  Christ,  "One 
shall  come  after  me,  etc.,"  and  preaches  a  long 
sermon. 

Annas  appears,  is  troubled  about  Christ.  Two  doc- 
tors advise  him  to  consult  with  Caiaphas  and 
Rewfyn  and  Leyon.  He  sends  Arfexe  for  these 
men. 

Caiaphas  and  his  doctors  appear;  he  also  expresses 
his  anxiety  about  Christ.  His  doctors  advise  him 
to  consult  with  Annas. 

Annas'  messenger  enters ;  in  the  meantime  Rewfyn 
and  Lcyon  appear  "in  the  place."  The  messenger 
speaks  first  to  Caiaphas  and  then  to  the  other 
two  men.  They  send  back  word  that  they  are 
coming  to  Annas'  court. 

The  messenger  delivers  this  message  to  Annas. 
Annas  goes  down  to  meet  Caiaphas  and  his  fol- 
lowers. 

The  council  scene  in  the  "myd-place."  Annas  wel- 
comes them.  They  consult  and  resolve  that  Jesus 
must  be  put  to  death.  They  decide  to  stay  nine 
days  to  discuss  by  what  means  his  death  is  to  be 
brought  about. 

Jesus  speaks.     "The  time  of  mercy  is  at  ,hand,  etc."  (26) 
He  sends  his  disciples  to  "yon  castle."     They  go, 
meet   the   "Burgensis"   who   asks   why   they   take 
the  beasts.     Philip  replies.     They  bring  the  two 
animals  to  Christ. 

"Here  Christ  rides  out  of  the  place,"  and  Peter  and 
John  remain  to  preach  to  the  people.  Peter :  "O, 
pepyl  dyspeyryng,  be  glad."  John  corroborates 
Peter's  message;  tells  them  Jesus  is  now  coming 
to  the  city;  bids  them  prepare  to  meet  him. 

Four  citizens  prepare  to  meet  Christ.  They  meet 
him  and  cast  their  garments  before  him. 

The  children  come  with  flowers  singing,  "Gloria 
Laus." 


Jesus  speaks.  The  first  four  lines  of  this  speech 
are  a  repetition  of  his  earlier  speech  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  entry  scene. 

Two  blind  paupers  are  healed. 


xxiv. 


The  Last  Supper  and   Continuation   of  Council 

xxvii.     Jesus   proceeds  on   foot  with   his   disciples.      \\c 
weeps  over  Jerusalem. 

Peter  and  John  ask  Jesus  where  he  wishes  to  kct-p 
the  Passover.    Jesus  directs  them  to  go  to  Simon. 


(27) 


42 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


Christ  and  his  disciples 
shall  keep         the 

maundy  of  God. 


And  Judas  shall  sell 
Christ  for  thirty 
pieces  of  silver. 


XXV. 


Christ     shall     pray 
God  for  relief. 


to 


Judas  shall  kiss  him  to 
betray  him. 

His  disciples  forsake 
him  and  let  him 
stand  among  his  foes. 


They  go  to  Simon's  house  and  see  to  the  prep- 
arations. 
Christ  enters,  saying  that  he  takes  this  way  for  the 
love  of  man.    Simon  welcomes  him. 

Christ  and  the  apostles  enter  and  eat  the  paschal 
lamb. 

Council  scene  ("in  cownsel-hous  beforn  seyd"). 
They  have  been  unsuccessful  so  far;  they  must 
find  a  better  plan.  Caiaphas :  "Better  that  one 
man  die,  etc."  Gamaliel,  Rewfyn,  and  Leyon 
speak. 

Mary  Magdalene  enters,  weeps  at  Jesus'  feet.    Jesus 

expels  seven  devils.     She  pours  ointment  on  his 

feet.    Judas  objects. 
Jesus  speaks  to  the  disciples  and  to  Mary  of  one 

who  is  about  to  betray  him.     They  all  ask    "Is 

it  I?"  etc. 
Judas  leaves  secretly;  soliloquizes,  resolves  to  go  to 

the  council  and  to  betray  Christ. 
He  greets  the  doctors  in  council  and  tells  his  errand. 

They   offer   him    thirty   pieces    of    silver.     Judas 

takes  his  leave,  says  he  must  go  back  to  his  mas- 
ter.   The  council  breaks  up. 
Jesus  is  talking  to  his  disciples  about  the  Passover. 

The  sacrament  of  the  Last  Supper  instituted,  etc. 

Offers   the   bread   to    all   the   disciples   including 

Judas. 
Judas   goes   out   again;    the   devil   meets   him   and 

greets  him  as  his  own. 
Jesus  speaks:  "Now  is  the  Son  of  Man  glorified." 

Peter  is  warned  that  he  is  to  deny  his  master. 

The  foot-washing. 
Stage-direction,    "Here   Jesus    goeth    Bethany-ward 

and  his  disciples  following,  Jesus  saying." 

The  Betrayal 

xxviii.    Jesus  speaks  to  his  disciples  on  the  way  to  the  (28) 
garden. 

They  enter  the  garden  and  Jesus  asks  Peter  to  stay 
with  the  disciples  and  wait  for  him  while  he  goes 
to  pray.  He  goes  away  three  times  and  returns, 
finds  his  disciples  sleeping,  etc. 

The  Angel  ministers  to  him,  bringing  him  chalice 
and  host. 

Judas  comes  with  the  soldiers.  They  fall  back 
when  Jesus  tells  them  that  it  is  he  whom  they 
seek.    Judas  kisses  Jesus.    Peter  strikes  Malchus. 

They  lead  Jesus  away.  Gamaliel,  Leyon,  and  Rew- 
fyn mock  Jesus. 

The  two  Marys  come  in  and  weep. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


43 


XXVI. 


Trial.  Part  I,  Herod,  Trial  before  Caiaphas,  Peter's  Denial 

Doctors'  Prologue.  Expositor  says,  "To  the  people  (29) 
unlearned  I  stand  as  a  teacher,  and  to  the  learned 
as  a  preacher,  etc."  The  apostles  appear  in  pro- 
cession and  are  introduced :  Peter,  prince  and 
president,  and  Andrew,  these  two  first  followed 
Christ ;  James  and  John,  two  luminaries,  given 
by  their  mother  to  Christ  in  Jerusalem ;  Philip, 
who  converted  the  Samarian,  converted  the  treas- 
urer of  Queen  Cabdas ;  James  the  lesser,  first  par- 
taker of  the  ordenaunce  of  Cephas ;  Matthew, 
apostle  and  evangelist,  called  to  the  flock  of  ghost- 
ly conversation ;  Bartholemew,  who  fled  all  carnal 
conversation;  Simon  Zelotes  and  Judas,  who  both 
loved  our  Lord;  Paul,  great  doctor  of  faith; 
Thomas,  Christ's  wound  was  his  reflection ;  John 
the  Baptist,  highest  of  prophets,  a  voice  crying  in 
the  desert. 

Xxix.44 

Herod,  Pilate,  Annas,  and  Caiaphas  enter  and  take 
their  scaffolds. 

Another  expositor  in  doctor's  weeds,  Contemplacio, 
enters.  He  hails  the  audience,  "May  the  maiden's 
son  preserve  you,  etc."  We  shall  proceed  with 
the  matter  that  we  left  last  year;  the  passion 
shall  be  shown.  Last  year  we  showed:  (1)  Jesus's 
coming  to  Jerusalem,  (2)  His  maunde,  (3)  His 
betrayal  by  Judas,  and  capture  by  soldiers. 
Now  he  is  brought  before  Annas  and  Caiaphas 
and  later  before  Pilate,  and  so  forth  in  his  passion. 

Here  Herod  shows  himself  and  speaks  a  boastful 
speech.  He  is  a  follower  of  Mahownde  and 
hates  Christians.  He  had  John  the  Baptist  killed 
because  he  baptized  Christ.  Sends  soldiers  out 
to  bring  in  any  Christian  dogs  they  may  find. 
They  go.  He  vows  to  put  to  the  most  shameful 
death  any  who  disobey  him.  He  wishes  to  see 
Jesus,  tells  the  soldiers  to  bring  Christ  before 
him,  if  Jesus  should  ever  come  to  that  country. 
The  soldiers  say  they  will  begin  their  search  to- 
morrow. 

A  messenger  enters   "the   place,"   crying   "Tidings,  (30) 
Jesus   is   taken,  etc."     He  tells  the  story  of  the 
capture. 

Jesus  is  brought  before  Annas  and  Caiaphas.  The 
Jews  testify;  he  is  questioned,  beaten,  etc.  Caia- 
phas tears  his  clothes,  etc. 

Peter's  denial.  The  cock  crows,  Peter  goes  out  to 
weep. 


Christ  shall  be  brought 
before  Caiaphas.  The 
Jews  are  witnesses. 

Peter's   denial. 


■**  This  number  does  not  occur  in  the  manuscript  until  after  this  prologue;   see  note   on   manu- 
script below. 


44 


ESTHER  L.  SJVENSON 


Trial,  Part  II,  The  Remorse  of  Judas,  Jesus  before  Pilate  and  before  Herod 

xxvii.  Pilate     shall     sit     in      xxx.     Caiaphas  sends  a  messenger  to   Pilate. 

state.     Jesus  shall  be  The  messenger  appears  before  Pilate. 

brought     before     him 

ivith      other     thieves. 

Pilate's  wife  goes   to 

rest, 
xxviii.  Judas  shall  weep  be- 
cause    he     has     sold 

Jesus,        bring        his 

money  back  and  hang 

himself.     His  soul  is 

taken   to   hell. 


The  remorse  of  Judas.  He  offers  the  money  to  the 
priests ;  it  is  refused ;  he  throws  it  down  and 
goes  to  hang  himself. 


XXIX. 


Jesus  is  led  before  Pilate.  Annas,  Caiaphas,  and 
Doctors  accuse  him.  The  usual  trial  scene  fol- 
lows. 

Pilate  learns  that  Jesus  is  from  Galilee  and  sends 
him  to  Herod. 

Trial  before  Herod.  Herod  appears  in  state.  He 
questions  Jesus,  seeks  to  induce  him  to  speak,  but 
without  success.  He  orders  Jesus  clad  in  fool's 
garments  after  he  has  been  beaten;  sends  him 
back  to  Pilate. 

"Here  enteryth  Satan  into  the  place  in  the  most 
orryble  wyse,  and  qwyl  that  he  pleyth,  thei  xal 
don  on  Jhesus  clothis  and  overest  a  whyte  clothe, 
and  ledyn  hym  abowth  the  place,  and  than  to 
Pylat,  be  the  tyme  that  hese  wyf  hath  pleyd." 

Trial,  Part  HI,  Pilate's  Wife's  Dream  and  the  Condemnation 

xxxi.  Satan  boasts  of  his  power,  but  is  troubled  be- 
cause he  has  failed  in  his  attempt  to  tempt  Christ 
He  is  still  angry  for  the  rebuke  that  Jesus  gave 
him  in  the  wilderness.  He  vows  that  he  will 
have  him  crucified  and  brought  to  hell.  He 
speaks  to  his  vassals  in  hell,  tells  them  to  forge 
some  particularly  strong  chains  to  bind  Christ. 
The  demons  object,  they  are  afraid  to  have  Jesus 
in  hell.  Satan  considers  that  it  might  possibly  be 
flnngerons  lo  bring  him  there,  so  he  decides  to  go 
to  Pilate's  wife. 
Here  the  devil  goes  to  Pilate's  wife,  "and  he  xal  no 
dene  make,"  but  after  he  is  come  in,  she  shall 
make  a  "rewly"  noise  and  run  to  the  scaffold 
where  Pilate  is  "like  a  mad  woman." 


Pilate's  wife  shall  ap- 
pear sleeping,  and  the 
devil  shall  appear  to 
her  and  attempt  to 
save  Christ's  life. 

She  sends  to  Pilate  and 
begs  him  not  to  con- 
demn Christ. 

Then  Pilate  is  busy  and 
right  "blyff." 


She  urges  Pilate  to  befriend  Jesus.     Satan  told  her 
that  he  who  condemns  Jesus  shall  be  damned. 

Pilate  llianks  her  and  sends  her  back. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


45 


Pilate  gives  counsel  to 
save  Christ's  life;  but 
the  Jews  demand  his 
death  and  the  release 
of  Barabas. 


The  doctors  bring  Jesus  back  to  Pilate.     He  seeks  (32) 
to  persuade  them  to  let  Jesus  go.     Offers  to  set 
free    Barabas   or   Jesus.      Examines    Jesus   alone. 
Annas  and  Caiaphas  threaten  to  bring  the  matter 
before  Caesar. 

Sentence  passed.  Jesus,  the  two  thieves,  and  Bara- 
bas before  the  bar.  Barabas  is  freed ;  Jesus  and 
thieves  condemned  to  be  beaten  and  crucified. 
The  two  thieves  are  Dysmas  and  Jesmas  (Dimas 
and  Gestas). 

A  stage-direction  for  the  beating  and  the  crowning 
with  thorns  as  well  as  for  the  weeping  of  the 
women. 


XXX. 


They  shall  beat  Christ 
and  nail  him  upon  a 
tree,  between  two 
thieves. 


Christ      speaks      seven 
words  on  the  cross. 


John  comforts  Mary 
and  takes  her  tc)  the 
Temple. 


xxxi.  Longinus  episode.  A 
spear  pierced  Christ's 
heart  and  Longinus 
was  healed.  (See 
next  play.) 
Christ's  soul  goes  to 
hell  and  overcomes 
the  fiend. 


The  Crucifixion 

xxxii.  Two  women  weep  for  Jesus ;  he  speaks  to  them, 
"Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  etc." 

Simon  appears  and  is  forced  to  carry  the  cross. 

Veronica  wipes  Jesus'  face  with  her  kerchief. 
Jesus  blesses  her  and  gives  magic  power  to  the 
kerchief. 

Crucifixion  proper,  realistic  description  of  the  nail- 
ing to  the  cross,  etc.    They  crucify  the  two  thieves. 


Jolm  and  the  three  Marys  come  in  and  mourn  at 

the  cross. 
"Forgive  them,  Father." 
Dysmas  is  forgiven. 
Jesus  says  to  his  mother,  "Woman,  behold  thy  son, 

etc." 
Pilate  and   the  high   priests   come   in.     Pilate's  in- 
scription. 
Jesus:     "Eloi  eloi.  etc." 
"I  thirst,  etc." 
"Into  Thy  hands,  etc." 
"It  is  finished." 
Mary    and    John    leave    the    cross    and    go    to    the 
Temple. 


The  TIarroiving   of  Hell 


xxxni. 


(3.^) 


Jesus  speaks:  ".-MI  mankind  in  heart  l)e  glad,  etc." 
He  tells  the  story  of  his  rrucifixi'm  .-ind  snys  he 
shall  rise  again. 


46 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


Anima :     "Against  me   it  were  but   foolish   to  hold 

portas,  etc." 
Belial :     "Out  and  harrow." 
Anima    Christi    goes    to    hell    and    says,    "Attollite 

out,  etc." 


xxxu. 


Burial  and  the  Setting  of  the  JVatch 

xxxiv.     The  Centurion,   two  other  soldiers,  and   Nico-  (34) 


Joseph  and  Nicodemus 
ask  Pilate  for  Christ's 
bodv.     He  consents. 


The    Jews    ask    for    a 

watch. 
Pilate        sends         four 

knights   to  guard  the 

tomb. 


But  Christ's  body  shall 
rise  from  the  grave 
nevertheless  and 

frighten     the     watch. 
(See  next  play.) 


demus  are  at  the  cross.  They  are  convinced  of 
Christ's  divinity. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea  goes  to  Pilate  and  asks  per- 
mission to  bury  Jesus.  The  request  is  granted  and 
Pilate  sends  two  soldiers  with  Joseph  to  see  if 
Jesus  is  really  dead. 

Longinus  episode :  At  the  cross  the  soldiers  see 
Longinus  and  force  him  to  pierce  Christ's  side. 
The  blood  runs  over  his  hands ;  he  wipes  his 
eyes  and  is  healed.  He  worships  Christ.  (See 
Prologue,  section  number  xxxi.) 

Joseph  and  Nicodemus  take  the  body  from  the 
cross.  They  lay  the  body  in  Mary's  lap.  She 
weeps  over  her  son. 

They  place  him  in  the  grave  and  place  a  stone  be- 
fore it. 

Mary  is  left  at  the  tomb. 

Caiaphas  asks  Pilate  to  place  a  watch  at  the  tomb. 

Pilate  calls  four  soldiers  and  sends  them  to  the 
grave.     They  boast  of  their  courage. 

Pilate  sets  his  seal  on  the  stone. 

Pilate,  Annas,  and  Caiaphas  go   to  their  scaffolds, 

and  the  soldiers  are  left  at  the  tomb.     They  take 

their  places  and  then  fall  asleep. 
"Tunc    dormient    milites    ct    veniet    Anima    Christi 

de  inferno,   cum   Adam   ct   Eva,   Abraham,   John 

Baptist,  et  aliis." 


Harrowins.  of  IIcll  and  Report  of  the  JVatch 
xxxiii.  Christ     shall     bring      xxxv.     Anima    speaks :  Come    forth,    Adam    and    Eve, 


his  friends   from  hel 
to  paradise. 


The  soul  then  goes  to 
the  tomb  and  enters 
the  body. 


etc. 


Adam,  Eve,  John  the  Baptist,  and  Abraham  in  turn 

express  their  gratitude. 
Anima  then  binds  the  devil  and  Belial  laments. 
"Tunc     transit     anima     Christi     ad     resuscitandum 

corpus,  quo  resuscitate,  dicat  Jesus  :    'Harde  gatys 

have  I  gon,  etc' " 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


47 


Then  he  goes  to  his 
mother  in  the  Tem- 
ple to  comfort  her. 
She  rejoices. 


Jesus    salutes   his   mother 
etc."     Mary  rejoices. 


"Salve,    sancta   parens, 


The  watch  awakens,  is  frightened,  reports  to  Pilate 
and  is  bribed.      (See  Prologue  xxxii.) 


xxxiv.  The      three      Marys 
seek  the  tomb. 
The    Angel    tells    them 
Christ  is  risen. 

They  go  and  tell  the 
news  to  the  disciples. 

Peter  and  John  run  to 
the  grave  and  find 
that  Christ  is  not 
there. 


The  Three  Marys 

xxxvi.  Mary    Magdalene,    Mary    Jacobi,    Mary    Salome  ('") 
talk  to  each  other  on  the  way  to  the  grave. 

Mary  Magdalene  looks  into  the  grave  and  finds 
Jesus  gone.  The  Angel  tells  them  he  is  risen 
and  bids  them  bring  the  news  to  the  apostles. 

Mary  Magdalene  and  Mary  Jacobi  tell  Peter  and  the 
other  disciples. 

t'eter  and  John  run  to  the  grave,  each  enters  in 
turn  and  finds  the  grave  clothes  laid  away  in 
place. 

Peter  speaks  to  all  the  disciples  gathered  together 
("omnes  congregatus  Thomas"). 


XXXV. 


Mary  Magdalene  shall 
see  Christ,  whom  she 
believes  to  be  a  gar- 
dener. 

When  Christ  calls  her 
by  name,  she  recog- 
nizes him.  He  bids 
her  not  touch  him. 

Mary  then  goes  to  the 
disciples  and  tells 
them  the  truth. 


Mary  Magdalene 

xxxvii.  Mary  Magdalene  stands  outside  the  grave  (37) 
weeping.  The  Angel  seeks  to  comfort  her.  She 
walks  away. 
Hortulanus  scene.  She  meets  Jesus  and  thinks  he 
is  the  gardener. -^-^  He  calls  her  by  name  and  she 
recognizes  him.  "Do  not  touch  me,  etc."  Mary 
rejoices. 


She  Iclls  the  disciples  that  she  has  seen  Christ. 


Peregriui  ami  Thomas 

xxxvi.  Cleophas    and    Luke  xxxviii.    Clcophas  and  Luke  on  the  way  to  Ennnaus  are  \^°) 

go      to       the      castle  discussing  the  death  of  Christ, 
mourning  Christ. 

Christ    overtakes    them  Jesus  overtakes  them.     They  tell  him  the  story  and 

also  about  the  women's  testimony. 

And       expounds        the  Jesus  expounds  the  prophets  to  them, 
prophets. 


*5  There  is  no  mention  of  his  carrying  a  spade  or  anything  to  symbolize  a  Ranlcner. 


48 


ESTHER  L.  SPVENSON 


He  goes  with  them  in- 
to the  house,  and,  at 
the  breaking  of  the 
bread,  disappears. 


xxxvii.  To  Thomas  of  In- 
dia Christ  shall  ap- 
pear, and  Thomas 
shall  touch  his 
wounds. 


Scene  in  the  house.     Jesus  blesses  the  bread,  etc., 
and  disappears  before  their  e3'es. 


Cleophas  and  Luke  go  to  the  disciples  and  tell  them 
the  story.  Peter  rejoices  and  urges  Thomas  to 
believe.  But  Thomas  says  he  will  not  believe 
until  he  has  seen  the  wounds  of  Christ. 
Christ  enters,  "Peace  be  among  you,  etc." 
He  shows  Thomas  his  wounds  and  Thomas  be- 
lieves and  repents  of  his  unbelief. 


xxxviii. 

Christ  shall  ascend  into 
heaven ;  all  his  apos- 
tles shall  be  there  and 
be  very  sad. 

Two  angels  shall  com- 
fort them  and  tell 
them  that  he  shall 
come  again. 


xxxix.  The  apostles  were 
gathered  in  Jerusa- 
lem, praying. 
The  Holy  Ghost  came 
upon  them ;  they 
spoke  in  all  tongues. 


And  later  they  departed. 


The  Ascension 

xxxix.     Jesus  speaks:     "Peace  be  with  you,  etc."    Tells  ^^^^ 
them  to  stay  in  Jerusalem.     He  ascends. 


One  angel  comes  to  comfort  them,  tells  them  that 
Jesus  will  return,  etc. 


[Peter]   tells  them  to  elect  another  disciple.     They 
draw  lots  and  Matthew  is  chosen. 

Pentecost 
xl.     The  apostles  are  kneeling  and  praying  in  Jerusalem.   (40 


The  spirit  descends  upon  them,  "Et  omnes  osculant 
tcrram." 

The  Jews  mock  them  and  Peter  gives  his  defense. 


The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin 


xn. 


"Ad  mea  facta  pater  assit  Deus  et  sua  mater." 
Doctor  says  that  St.  John  has  written  of  this  As- 
sumption in  a  book  called  the  Apocrypha.  He 
tells  the  story  of  Mary's  life ;  how  at  fourteen, 
she  conceived  Christ,  lived  with  him  for  thirty- 
three  years,  and  after  his  death  twelve  years ;  so 
that  now  she  was  three-score  years.  "Legenda 
Sanctorum"  authorizes  this  truly.  She  lived  in 
Sion  after  her  Son's  ascension  and  visited  all  the 
places  where  Christ  had  been ;  Jordan,  where  he 
was  baptized,  the  place  where  he  was  captured, 
and  where  he  was  buried  and,  finally,  where  he 
ascended. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  49 

Upon  inquiry  the  Episcopus  learns  that  while  there 
is  comparative  peace  in  the  land  since  Jesus  was 
slain,  his  mother  is  still  living  and  has  a  number 
of  followers  who  travel  about  the  country  preach- 
ing that  Jesus  is  still  living.  They  do  not  dare 
to  put  these  people  to  death,  for  fear  that  the 
commons  will  rise.  But  they  resolve  at  Mary's 
death  to  burn  her  body  and  to  slay  the  apostles. 

Mary  in  the  Temple  prays  that  she  may  be  delivered 
from  this  life.  Sapientia  hears  her  prayer,  sends 
an  angel  down  to  tell  his  mother  that  in  three 
days  she  shall  ascend  to  the  presence  of  God. 
Mary  asks  that  the  apostles  may  be  present  when 
she  dies  and  that  she  may  not  see  the  fiend.  The 
Angel  ascends.  Mary  tells  her  two  maidens ;  she 
goes  to  her  house. 

Suddenly  John  appears  at  Mary's  house,  carried 
there  in  a  cloud.  Mary  tells  John  how  the  Jews 
have  planned  to  burn  her  body  and  asks  him  to 
prevent  it. 

Here  suddenly  all  the  apostles  appear  before  the 
gates.  (The  stage-direction  says  all  the  apostles; 
but  Peter  and  Paul  are  the  only  ones  who  take 
any  part  in  the  conversation  or  action.  These 
two  also  come  in  clouds.)  They  meet  John  and 
he  explains  to  them  why  they  were  brought  there. 

Mary's  deathbed.  Each  apostle  lights  a  candle  and 
watches  at  the  bedside.  Jesus  descends  to  comfort 
his  mother,  accompanied  by  a  heavenly  choir. 
Mary  dies  while  the  choir  sings.  Two  virgins 
care  for  the  body. 

Funeral  procession.  Peter,  Paul,  and  John  carry 
the  bier.  Chorus  of  angels  sings.  Peter :  Exiit 
Israel  de  Egipto.  Apostoli :  "Facta  est  Judea 
sanctificatio  ejus,  etc." 

The  Jewish  leaders  learn  that  Mary  is  being  buried. 
Three  men  are  sent  to  capture  her  body.  They 
attack  the  apostles  but  are  miraculously  stricken 
with  some  disease  and  two  of  them  run  away. 
One  of  them  makes  bold  to  touch  the  bier  and  his 
hand  becomes  fastened  to  it.  He  prays  Peter  to 
help  him.  Peter  bids  him  believe  and  kneel  before 
the  bier.  He  does  this  and  is  healed.  Peter  gives 
him  a  palm  and  tells  him  to  take  this  and  preach 
repentance  to  the  other  Jews. 

They  place  the  body  in  the  tomb  and  have  a  service 
there. 

The  Jewish  princcps  who  has  been  healed  holds  his 
palm  up  before  the  other  Jews  and  bids  them  be- 
lieve that  they  may  be  made  well.  One  of  them 
touches   the   palm    and   is   cured.      But   the   other 


50 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


refuses  to  forsake  the  law,  and  the  devils  come 
and  carry  him  off  to  hell. 
Jesns  and  the  angels  descend  to  the  apostles.  Mary's 
spirit  again  enters  the  body  and  they  ascend  to- 
gether. Jesus  crowns  her  queen  of  heaven  and 
mother  of  mercy. 


The  Judgment 

xl.  xlii.     Jesus  descends  with  Michael  and  Gabriel  and  the   (42) 

•  two  angels  summon  men  to  judgment. 

The    earth    shall    quake  "Omnes    resurgentes    subtus   terram   clamavit   'Ha ! 

and       graves       open.  a!  a!'    Deinde  surgentes  dicat,  "ha!  a!  a!'" 

Dead  men  shall  an- 
swer before  God's 
face. 

All  the  demons  call  "Harrow  and  owt." 
Deus    to   the    blessed :      '"Venite    benedicti.''      Peter 
opens  the  gates  of  heaven  and  the  souls  of  the 
saved  enter. 
"Whoso     to     God     has  The  souls  of  the  damned  cry  for  mercy,  the  demons 

been    unkind,    Friend-  accuse    them.      Deus :      "To   hungry    and    thirsty, 

ship    tliere    shall    not  etc." 

find." 

The  devils  go  on  accusing  and  the  "dampnandi"  ask 

for  mercy. 
Deus :   

The  play  is  incomplete. 

In  the  fourth  division  of  the  cycle  we  have  a  .s^reat  number  of  complica- 
tions and  evidence  of  late  extraneous  influence,  somewhat  analogous  to  those 
found  in  the  Nativity  plays.  In  the  latter  !2^roup  there  seemed  to  be  a 
distinct  unit,  or  g^roup  of  plays,  concerning  the  life  of  the  Virgin,  that  had 
been  incorporated,  more  or  less  completely,  into  the  cycle.  So  here  we  see 
the  influence  of  a  Passion  play,  similar  probably  to  those  that  often  existed 
in  the  southern  part  of  England.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  this  play 
was  incorporated  as  a  whole.  The  actual  incidents  as  we  now  find  them  in 
the  plays  correspond  fairly  well  with  tlie  general  Prologue,  and  the  additions 
seem  to  be  more  in  the  nature  of  elaborate  processions  and  prologues.  So 
that  it  is  more  probable  that  what  we  have  in  this  part  of  the  cvcle  is 
a  working  over  into  another  form,  after  the  pattern  of  some  Passion  play,  of 
materials  already  present. 

In  the  play  numbered  26  (Ilalliwell  25),  Lucifer  appears  and  recites  a 
long  prologue  in  which  he  introduces  himself  and  tells  the  story  of  his  fall, 
and  how  now  he  is  seeking  to  bring  about  the  ruin  of  Christ.  He  ends  with 
a  detailed  description  of  his  costume.    This  is  just  such  a  prologue  as  was 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  51 

often  used  to  introduce  Passion  plays  on  the  continent.  Then  follow  the 
plays  of  the  Council  and  Entry,  the  Last  Supper,  the  Betrayal  and  Cap- 
ture; after  which  comes,  in  the  twenty-ninth  play,  another  long  prologue 
scene  with  doctors  and  expositors.  At  the  end  of  this  prologue  scene,  an 
expositor  in  doctor's  weeds,  Contemplacio  by  name,  enters  and  says  that  thev 
will  now  continue  where  they  left  off  last  year.  He  then  mentions  as  plays 
performed  last  year,  the  Entry,  the  Maundy,  the  Betrayal  and  Capture,  which 
is  exactly  what  was  covered  since  Lucifer's  prologue.  He  goes  on  to  say 
that  now  they  will  show  how  he  was  brought  before  Annas  and  Caiaphas  and 
later  before  Pilate  and  so  forth  in  his  Passion.  I  think  it  impossible  that 
this  division  into  two  parts  should  refer  to  the  whole  cycle,  which  would 
then  be  very  unevenly  divided ;  but  rather  that  this  expositor's  speech  be- 
longed to  the  Passion  play  only.  It  certainly  indicates,  for  this  part  of  the 
cycle,  an  independent  use  at  some  time  as  a  Passion  play.  The  name  Con- 
templacio may  have  been  introduced  by  the  scribe  when  he  was  copying, 
in  an  attempt  to  make  this  part  of  the  cycle  seem  consistent  with  the  Nativity 
plays. 

The  part  of  our  cycle,  covering  the  action  prescribed  by  Contemplacio, 
presents  a  number  of  noteworthy  differences  from  the  rest  of  the  cycle ;  such 
as  the  widespread  use  of  the  tumbling  meter,  and  stage-directions  that  indi- 
cate the  use  of  a  fixed  stage  and  are  peculiarly  explicit  in  matters  of  costume 
and  properties.  These  directions  are  entirely  in  English  down  to  the  scene  of 
Peter's  denial.  In  this  and  a  few  of  the  following  scenes  certain  traditional 
directions,  such  as  "Et  cantabit  gallus,"  are  written  in  Latin,  but  English 
continues  to  be  used  prevailingly  in  the  stage-directions  to  the  end  of  the  play 
of  the  Burial  and  the  Setting  of  the  Watch.  From  this  point  on,  with  l)ut  one 
single  exception,  the  directions  are  entirely  in  Latin  and  are  in  the  same  sim- 
ple form  that  we  have  found  before  in  the  plays  covering  Old  Testament  sub- 
jects, and  the  life  of  Christ  up  to  the  Passion.  The  use  of  tlie  tumbling 
meter,  with  but  one  exception,  also  ends  at  this  point.  Moreover,  in  the 
manuscript  these  plays  follow  immediately  upon  one  another  without  any 
blank  spaces  between  them,  except  at  the  point  that  Contemplacio  marks 
as  the  division  in  the  Passion  play,  until  the  end  of  the  play  of  the  Appear- 
ance to  Mary  Magdalene.  After  that  the  blank  spaces  are  left  regularly 
at  the  end  of  each  play  as  they  have  been  in  the  other  parts  of  the  cycle  that 
have  appeared  to  be  simple  and  unmodified. 

Thus  the  meter  and  the  stage-directions,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  Con- 
templacio speaks  only  of  the  passion  of  Christ,  and  not  of  the  resurrection, 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  foreign  influence  ends  with  the  pla\-  of  the 
Burial  and  the  Setting  of  the  Watch  ;  whereas  the  appearance  of  the  manu- 
script might  point  to  the  Appearance  to  Mary  Magdalene  as  the  end. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  discussion  of  individual  plays  it  may  be  well  to 


52 


ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 


indicate  in  an  abbreviated  form  the  variation  of  Halliwell's  division  of  the 
plays  from  that  of  the  manuscript.    I  have  followed  the  manuscript. 

Manuscrii't  IIalliwell 


26 


27 


28 


29 


30 


31 


32 


Demon  Prologue 


Council  of  the  Jews 


The   Entry 


Jesus   Weeping   over   Jerusalem 


The  Last  Supper  and   Continuation   of  Council 


The    Betraj'al   and    Capture 


The    Doctors'    Prologue 


Herod 


Trial  before  Caiaphas 


Peter's  Denial 


Remorse  of  Judas 


Jesus  before  Pilate 


Je-sus  before  Hcr( 


Pilate's   Wife's   Dream 


The  Second  'irial  before  Pilate 


Weeping  of  the  Women  and  Veronica 


Crucifixion 


25 


26 


27 


28 


29 


30 


31 


32 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  53 

Manuscript  Halliwei.i. 


33 


Harrowing  of  Hell  I 


34 


Burial   and   Lonsiinns 


33 


34 


Setting  of  the  Watch 


35 


Harrowing  of  Hell  H 

Jesus  Hails  His  Mother 

Report  of  the  Watch 


35 


36 


37 


38 


The  Three  Marys 


Mary   Magdalene 


Peregrini  and  the  Incredulity  of  Thomas 


36 


37 


38 


The  Council  and  Entry 

The  Prologue  for  this  play  provides  for  nothing  more  than  Palm  Sunday 
and  the  children,  whereas  the  play  presents  in  addition  the  introductory 
speeches  of  Lucifer  and  John  the  Baptist,  the  convening  of  the  council, 
Peter's  and  John's  sermons  to  the  Jews,  and  the  healing  of  the  two  blind  men. 
On  folio  142b  of  the  manuscript,  immediately  after  the  council  scene, 
appears  this  direction :  "Here  enteryth  the  apostyl  Petyr  and  John  the 
evangelist  with  him,  Peter  seyng."  This  and  the  following  speech  of  Peter's 
is  crossed  out,  and  we  have  instead  a  speech  by  Jesus,  in  which  he  addresses 
himself  first  to  the  Jews,  and  then  sends  his  disciples  into  the  city,  after 
which  he  leaves.  When  Christ  has  left,  Peter  and  John  begin  to  preach  to 
the  people,  and  here  we  have  the  speech  by  Peter  that  had  been  crossed  out 
before.  The  direction,  however,  is  not  repeated.  This  may  indicate,  it  seems 
to  me,  that  in  this  place  we  had  originally  a  very  simple  play  of  the  entry, 
which  began  with  Peter's  speech  and  included  simply  the  homage  of  the  four 
citizens  and  the  songs  of  the  children.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  Jesus'  speech  at  the  end  of  the  play,  just  before  the  healing  of 
the  two  blind  men,*®  the  first  four  lines  are  a  repetition  of  his  first  speech.*^ 

40HalliwelI,  p.  256. 


54  ESTHER  L.  SPVENSON 

This  would  leave  the  council  scene,  Jesus'  two  speeches,  and  the  healing  of 
the  two  blind  men  to  be  considered  as  later  additions  to  the  cycle. 

The  play  is  written  largely  in  single  and  double  quatrains,  the  latter  pre- 
vailing. The  tumbling  measure  also  makes  its  frequent  appearance,  notably 
in  the  speeches  of  Demon,  John  the  Baptist,  and  in  Annas'  first  speech  as 
well  as  those  of  his  two  doctors  (to  the  top  of  page  246  in  Halliwell).  Two 
stanzas  (on  pages  246  and  247)  where  Caiaphas  is  speaking,  just  before  the 
messenger  from  Annas  appears,  and  also  the  last  three  stanzas  of  Peter's 
speech,'*^  are  also  written  in  the  tumbling  verse. 

The  prologue  stanza  makes  its  appearance  in  the  scene  where  Jesus  asks 
his  disciples  to  go  into  the  city  and  in  the  conversation  with  the  Burgensis, 
with  the  exception  that  the  first  four  lines  of  Jesus'  speech,  which  are 
repeated  later,  form  a  separate  quatrain. 

The  following  stage-direction  from  this  play  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
peculiarities  of  the  directions  in  this  part  of  the  cycle:  "Here  xal  Annas 
shewyn  hymself  in  his  stage,  be  seyn  after  a  busshop  of  the  hoold  lawe,  in 
a  skarlet  gowne,  and  over  that  a  blew  tabbard  furryd  with  whyte,  and  a 
mytere  on  his  lied,  after  the  hoold  lawe;  ij.  doctorys  stondyng  by  hym  in 
furryd  hodys,  and  on  beforn  hem  with  his  staff  of  astat,  and  eche  of  hem 
on  here  hedys  a  furryd  cappe,  with  a  gret  knop  in  the  crowne,  and  on 
stondyng  beforn  as  a  Sarazyn,  the  wiche  xal  be  his  masangere."*®  This 
careful  attention  to  the  position  and  costumes  of  the  characters  is  entirely 
foreign  to  the  simple  plays  that  precede  this  group.  The  elaborateness  of  the 
stage  properties  called  for,  the  frequent  mentions  of  "the  place"  indicate  a 
fixed  stage  for  this  group  of  plays.  Thus  while  the  messenger  is  speaking 
to  Caiaphas  in  his  scaffold,  Rewfyn  and  Leyon  appear  in  "the  place."  And 
later  "the  buskopys  with  here  clerkes  and  the  Phariseus  mett,  in  the  myd 
place,  and  ther  xal  be  a  lytil  oratory  with  stolys  and  cusshonys  clenly  beseyn, 
lyche  as  it  were  a  cownsel-hous."^°  A  little  while  later,  after  Christ  has 
made  his  speech  to  the  Jews,  we  are  told  that  he  rides  out  of  "the  place,"  etc. 
I  have  also  noticed  that,  beginning  with  the  direction  concerning  the  citizens' 
homage  to  Jesus, '^^  we  have  the  frequent  substitution  of  qw  for  wh  in  such 
words  as  qzva7i  and  (jwat."- 

TIic  Last  Supper  and  Continuation  of  Council 

This  play  also  appears  to  have  been  very  much  modified.  The  Prologue 
provides  for  the  Supper  and  for  the  selling  of  Christ  by  Judas,  but  not  for 
the  elaborate  council  scene  which  we  find  here.  This,  T  think,  must  have 
been  a  part  of  the  Passion  play.     It  seems  probable  that  the  original  play 

47  Halliwell,  p.   252.  18  Halliwell,  p.   254.  -m  Halliwell,  p.  244. 

50  Halliwell,  p.  249.  si  Halliwell,  p.   256. 

52  In  the  manuscript  the  name  Wyllum  Dere  is  written  in  the  margin  of  the  first  page  of  thif 
play. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  55 

included  simply  the  scene  of  the  Supper  and  Judas'  withdrawal,  to  meet 
either  with  the  Jews  or,  possibly,  the  devil.  Or  it  may  be  that  he  simply 
soliloquized.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  stage-direction  for  the  Demon's 
speech^"''  states  that  this  scene  may  be  included  or  omitted  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  performers. 

That  the  Mary  Magdalene  episode  is  a  later  addition  the  manuscript 
indicates  clearly.  On  folio  148b  the  direction,  "Here  Judas  Caryoth  comyth 
into  the  place,""*  has  been  crossed  out,  also  the  name  Jesus  as  the  next 
speaker.  At  the  bottom  of  the  page  three  lines,  "as  a  cursyd,"  "my  herte  is 
ryth,"  and  "now  cowntyrfetyd  I  have,"  have  been  written  and  crossed  out. 
The  first  of  these  lines  is  the  opening  line  of  Mary's  speech  f^  the  second  is 
the  first  line  of  Christ's  speech  after  the  Mary  Magdalene  episode,^"  intro- 
ducing the  scene  where  Jesus  says  one  of  his  disciples  shall  betray  him ;  the 
third  line  is  the  opening  line  of  Judas'  speech,  which  follows  the  scene  be- 
tween Jesus  and  his  disciples.'^'  Evidently  the  direction,  "Here  Judas  goth 
into  the  place,"  which  is  crossed  out  in  the  manuscript,  though  printed  by 
Halliwell  (p.  263),  is  the  same  as  that  which  precedes  this  last-mentioned 
speech  of  Judas.^^  This  confusion  would  seem  to  me  to  indicate  that  the 
scribe  had  at  first  intended  to  introduce  the  scene  where  Judas  sells  Christ 
to  the  doctors,  immediately  after  Annas'  last  speech,^®  and  thus  make  of  the 
council  one  continuous  scene.  Then  later  it  seems  that  he  thought  to  intro- 
duce the  scene  between  Jesus  and  his  disciples*'"  at  this  point,  but  finally 
decided  to  introduce  the  Mary  Magdalene  episode.  This  episode  occupies 
folios  149  and  149b  in  the  manuscript,  and  the  handwriting  seems  to  indicate 
that  it  was  written  by  the  same  scribe,  but  at  a  different  time  and  with  a 
different  pen.  It  is  much  more  closely  written.  Perhaps  this  indicates  that 
at  first  the  scene  between  Jesus  and  his  disciples  followed  Annas"  speech 
(p.  263)  and  that  the  story  of  Mary  was  written  in  at  a  later  time  on  a  blank 
page  that  had  been  left  there. ®^ 

Metrically  the  play  presents  two  main  forms.  The  Mary  Magdalene 
episode  is  in  the  prologue  stanza,  whereas  the  greater  part  of  the  play  is  in 
double  quatrains.  The  scene  between  Jesus  and  his  disciples,  mentioned 
above,  as  well  as  the  one  where  he  establishes  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  (pp.  270-274),  are  in  the  tumbling  meter,  which  may  point  to  a  later 
origin  for  these  parts.  There  are  also  three  cases  of  couplets  in  the  i)lay 
(pp.  274,  276). 


r-S  Ilalliwcll,  p.  275.  •'■'■<  Halliwell,   p.    26.1.  •''^Halliwell,  p.  263. 

•'"•0  Halliwell,  p.   265.  •'•"  Halliwell,  p.  267.  "8  Halliwell,  p.  267. 

•"^8  Halliwell,  p.  263.  ''O  Halliwell,   pp.   265-267.  . 

•'1  The   name  John    Hollaiul    occurs  four  times   in  this  section   of  the   manuscript   on    folios    l.Mb, 
1521),   153b,  and   155b.     The  handwriting  resembles  that  of  the  scribe. 


56  ESTHER  L.  SIVENSON 

The  Betrayal 

The  preceding:  play  ends  with  the  direction,  "Here  Jhesus  goth  to  Betany- 
ward,  and  his  dyscipulys  folwyng  with  sad  contenawns,  Jhesus  seyng,"  and 
this  play  opens  with  Jesus'  speech  on  the  way  to  the  garden.  Either  this 
direction  ought  to  be  transferred  to  this  play,  or  the  speech  belongs  to  the 
play  of  the  Last  Supper.  However,  if  we  conceive  these  plays  to  have  been 
performed  on  a  stationary  stage,  considerations  of  this  kind  are  of  very  little 
importance.®^ 

The  Angel's  ministering  to  Jesus  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Prologue.  His 
bringing  a  chalice  and  the  host  is  a  theological  touch.  Moreover,  the  Pro- 
logue says  that  Christ's  disciples  forsake  him,  but  there  is  no  direction  in  the 
play  to  that  effect.  The  laments  of  the  Marys  are  also  omitted  from  the 
Prologue ;  and  these  laments  are  also  written  in  the  tumbling  meter,  whereas 
the  rest  of  the  play  is  in  simple  single  and  double  quatrain  stanzas. 

Trial  I  (Herod,  Trial  before  Caiaphas  and  Peter's  Denial) 

The  play  of  the  Betrayal  ends  on  folio  162  of  the  manuscript  and  folio 
162b  is  blank.  The  prologue  of  the  doctors  is  written  in  on  ff.  163  and 
163b  in  a  different  hand ;  then,  except  for  a  few  scribbles,  ff.  164  and  164b 
are  blank.  So  that  the  next  play  does  not  actually  begin  before  folio  16b, 
although  the  doctors'  prologue  does  occur  before ;  nor  does  the  number  29 
appear  before  this  point.  After  this  there  are  no  blank  spaces  in  the  manu- 
script until  the  end  of  the  play  of  Christ's  Appearance  to  Mary  Magdalene. 
The  hand  in  which  Contemplacio's  speech  is  written  seems  to  differ  both 
from  that  of  the  usual  scribe  and  also  from  that  of  the  doctors'  prologue. 

The  general  Prologue  for  this  play  promises  nothing  more  than  a  trial 
before  Caiaphas  and  Peter's  denial,  and  these  portions  of  the  play  are  written 
in  simple  meters.  The  actual  trial  before  Caiaphas®^  is  in  simple  quatrains, 
with  a  good  deal  of  confusion  of  rhyme  due  to  the  short  speeches  in  the 
buffeting  scenes,  etc. ;  the  scene  of  Peter's  denial  is  in  couplets,  ending  in 
a  simple  quatrain.  But  the  other  parts  of  the  play,  Contemplacio's  speech, 
the  speeches  of  Herod  and  the  soldiers,  the  messenger's  tidings  to  Annas, 
Annas'  greeting  of  Jesus,  and  Peter's  lament  are  written  almost  entirely  in 
tumbling  quatrains.  Thus  it  seems  probable  that  all  of  the  play  except  the 
actual  trial  before  Caiaphas  and  Peter's  denial  is  late. 

The  appearance  of  the  stage-directions  would  also  seem  to  support  such 
a  theory.  In  the  first  part  of  the  play  we  find  the  same  elaborate  sort  of 
directions  that  characterize  this  part  of  the  cycle:  "What  tyme  that  pro- 
cessyon  is  enteryd  into  the  place,  and  the  Herowdys  takyn  his  schaffalde, 

"2  Hohlfeld  also  calls  attention  to  this  fact,  Die  Kollektivmisterien,  Anglia,  xi,  n.  234. 
<«  Halliwcll,  pp.  295-297. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  57 

and  Pylat  and  Annas  and  Cayphas  here  schafFaldys ;  also  than  come  ther  an 
exposytour,  in  doctorys  wede,  thus  seyng."  But  with  the  buffeting  scenes  in 
the  Trial  before  Caiaphas  and  in  Peter's  Denial  we  have  the  occasional  use 
of  simple  Latin  stage-directions.  This  is  the  first  appearance  of  Latin  direc- 
tions since  the  Lazarus  play. 

Trial  II  (Remorse  of  Judas,  Jesus  before  Pilate  and  Herod) 

This  play,  as  it  now  stands,  seems  to  be  a  reworking  of  what  was  in  the 
cycle  originally  two  plays,  with  some  introduction  of  new  material.  If  the 
Remorse  of  Judas  was  a  separate  play,  it  is  probable  that  it  was  presented 
as  a  sort  of  interlude  between  the  two  trials  before  Pilate.  Strangely  enough 
the  Prologue  makes  no  mention  of  a  trial  before  Herod.  Combining  this 
with  the  fact  that  the  parts  of  the  preceding  play  concerning  Herod  were  also 
omitted  from  the  Prologue,  it  would  seem  that  Herod  was  introduced  into 
this  part  of  the  cycle  at  the  time  of  revision. 

In  connection  with  the  first  trial  before  Pilate,  the  Prologue  states  that 
Christ  shall  be  tried  together  with  thieves.  But  the  thieves  do  not  actually 
appear  until  the  second  trial  before  Pilate.  There,  however,  they  are  omitted 
from  the  Prologue.  There  are  also  in  this  play  two  other  minor  points  of 
disagreement  between  Prologue  and  plays.  The  former  provides  that  Pilate's 
wife  shall  go  to  rest,  a  thing  which  does  not  occur  in  the  play ;  also,  the  play 
as  it  now  stands  presents  no  scene  where  the  devil  carries  Judas  off  to  hell, 
but  simply  states  that  he  goes  to  hang  himself. 

The  meter  of  the  play  as  a  whole  is  very  simple,  largely  simple  quatrains 
with  an  occasional  double  quatrain.  A  part  of  the  scene  where  Pilate  ques- 
tions Jesus®*  is  written  in  couplets.  The  tumbling  meter  makes  its  appear- 
ance only  in  the  first  part  of  the  play  where  Caiaphas  calls  the  messenger 
and  the  messenger  delivers  his  message  first  to  Pilate  and  then  to  Caiaphas. 

The  last  stage-direction  in  the  play  indicates  beyond  any  doubt  that  these 
plays  were  presented  on  a  fixed  stage :  "Here  enteryth  Satan  into  the  place 
in  the  most  orryble  wyse,  and  qwyl  that  he  pleyth,  thei  xal  don  on  Jhesus 
clothis  and  overest  a  whyte  clothe,  and  leydyn  hym  abowth  the  place  and 
than  to  Pylat,  be  the  tyme  that  hese  wyff  hath  pleyd."  This  play  contains 
one  Latin  stage-direction. 

Trial  III  (Pilate's  Wife's  Dream  and  the  Condetnnation) 

Satan's  prologue,  which  is  not  provided  for  in  the  general  Prologue,  and 
is  also  written  in  the  tumbling  meter,  probably  does  not  belong  to  the  original 
cycle.     The  scene  of  the  council  in  hell  is  also  omitted  from  the  Prologue 

"♦  Halliwell,  p.  301. 


58  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

and  would  seem  to  belongs  to  a  later  period.  It  is,  however,  written  in  simple 
quatrains,  which  is  the  prevailing-  meter  of  the  play.  With  the  exception, 
noted  before,  that  the  thieves,  placed  by  the  Prologue  in  the  preceding  play, 
actually  appear  here,  the  rest  of  the  action  is  entirely  consistent  with  the 
Prologue  and  probably  represents  an  early  stage  of  the  cycle. 

This  play  also  employs  a  number  of  couplets  in  addition  to  the  prevailing 
simple  quatrains.''"  Here  also  we  have  the  occasional  appearance  of  simple 
Latin  stage-directions. 

The  Crucifixidn 

Jesus'  speech  to  the  Jewish  women,  "Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  etc.,"  is 
written  in  tumbling  meter,  and  probably  belongs  to  a  later  period  than  that 
represented  by  the  Prologue.  Although  the  laments  of  the  women,  Simon's 
carrying  of  the  cross,  and  the  Veronica  episode  are  written  in  simple  quat- 
rains, their  omission  from  the  Prologue  may  indicate  that  they  were  later 
borrowings  into  the  cycle.  The  Veronica  story  occurs  only  in  this  and  the 
York  cycles ;  it  comes  from  a  legendary  source,  such  as  would  probably  not 
have  been  used  in  this  cycle  at  the  time  of  the  writing  of  the  Prologue.  The 
forgiving  of  Dysmas  and  Pilate's  inscription  are  also  omitted  from  the 
Prologue,  and  the  latter  incident  is  introduced  by  just  such  a  stage-direction 
as  we  believe  is  characteristic  of  the  Passion  play. 

After  Pilate  has  gone  back  to  his  scaffold  we  have  the  reappearance  of 
the  ballad  stanza  a  a  a  b  c  c  c  b,  which  is  continued  to  the  end  of  this  play  and 
throughout  the  next. 

The  IT arroiving  of  Hell  I 

Although  the  one  stage-direction  here  is  in  English,  the  play  is  ex- 
tremely simple  and  seems  to  be  in  its  original  form.  The  second  scene  of  the 
Harrowing  of  Hell  (a  part  of  the  Resurrection  play)  is  also  written  in  the 
ballad  meter,  and  the  action  follow^s  immediately  upon  that  of  the  first  Har- 
rowing of  Hell,  as  if  the  two  had  at  one  time  been  a  single  play.  However, 
that  must  have  been  before  the  Prologue  was  written,  for  that  provides  for 
a  division  just  as  we  find  it  here. 

There  seem  to  be  no  indications  of  any  influence  from  the  Passion  play 
in  either  of  these  two  scenes.  Rut  there  may  have  been  some  change  in  the 
order  of  the  incidents  in  this  part  of  the  cycle.  In  the  Prologue  the  Longinus 
story  is  placed  with  the  first  Harrowing  of  Hell,  the  two  constituting  a  sep- 
arate pageant,  whereas  as  the  cycle  now  stands,  the  first  Harrowing  of  Hell 
stands  alone,  and  the  Longinus  episode  is  placed  with  the  play  of  the  Burial. 

•■••'■'  Ilalliwcll,  pp.  312,   313,  316. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  59 

The  Burial  and  the  Setting  of  the  JJ'atch 

Although  this  play  corresponds  fairly  well,  as  far  as  incidents  are  con- 
cerned, with  the  general  Prologue,  it  presents  some  little  evidence  of  for- 
eign influence  in  that  both  English  stage-directions  and  the  tumbling  meter 
are  used  to  some  extent.  This  meter  makes  its  appearance  in  the  conversa- 
tion of  the  Centurion  and  the  other  two  soldiers  at  the  cross.  The  other 
scenes  of  the  play  are  written  either  in  simple  quatrains  or  in  the  ballad 
stanza.  Nicodemus""  speaks  one  stanza  in  the  ballad  strophe.  The  rest  of  the 
burial  scene  and  the  first  part  of  the  Setting  of  the  Watch,  are  in  quatrains ; 
but  beginning  with  Afifraunt's  speech  to  Pilate  on  the  way  to  the  tomb,  the 
ballad  measure  is  again  employed.  In  the  first  part  of  this  last  scene  the 
lines  are  generally  four  feet  long,  but  the  last  stanza  of  Pilate's  speech  and 
the  conversation  of  the  soldiers  at  the  grave  are  in  the  very  short  line  ballad 
stanza,  often  running  into  the  form  a  a  b  c  c  b. 

This  play  marks  the  end  of  the  influence  of  the  Passion  play.  The  fol- 
lowing plays,  though  not  always  corresponding  in  every  detail  with  the  Pro- 
logue, are.  with  the  exception  of  the  play  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin, 
very  simple.  There  is  only  one  further  instance  (in  the  play  of  Thomas)  of 
the  use  of  the  tumbling  meter;  and  only  one  stage-direction  in  English  (in 
the  play  of  Mary  Magdalene)  throughout  the  rest  of  the  cycle.  The  stage- 
directions  are  again  simple,  as  they  were  in  the  first  part  of  the  cycle,  and 
there  is  no  further  mention  of  "the  place."  The  play  of  Mary  Magdalene 
ends  with  an  "Explicit  apparicio  Mariae  Magdalen,"  and  each  succeeding 
play,  except  the  xA.ssumption  of  the  Virgin,  begins  with  a  direction  some- 
what in  the  nature  of  an  "Incipit."  The  play  of  Pentecost  also  ends  with 
an  "Amen." 

Resurrection  and  Aivakening  of  the  Watch 

At  the  end  of  the  Crucifixion  a  stage-direction,  in  agreement  with  the 
Prologue,  states  that  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  goes  to  the  Temple.  But  in 
the  play  of  the  Burial  she  is  present  and  at  the  end  is  said  to  be  left  with  the 
other  Marys  at  the  tomb.  The  Prologue  for  the  Burial  makes  no  pro- 
vision for  this,  but  states  in  the  section  devoted  to  the  play  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, that  Christ  goes  to  the  Temple  to  find  his  mother;  whereas  in  the  play 
of  the  Resurrection  Christ  seems  to  find  his  mother  at  the  tomb.  Thus  the 
action  in  the  Prologue  is  consistent  with  itself  and  with  the  direction  at  the 
end  of  the  play  of  the  Crucifixion,  whereas  the  action  that  follows  this  direc- 
tion in  the  plays  is  not  consistent.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  cycle,  at  the  time 
which  the  Prologue  represents,  Mary  went  to  the  Temple  after  the  cruci- 
fixion and  remained  there  to  meet  Christ  after  his  resurrection;  whereas  in 

oo  Halliwell,  p.  331. 


60  ESTHER  L.  SWENSON 

some  other  play,  which  has  influenced  this  cycle,  the  Marys  were  left  at  the 
tomb  after  the  burial  and  remained  there  to  be  ready  for  the  play  of  Christ's 
Appearance  to  the  Three  Marys.  In  this  latter  play,  the  play  of  the  Three 
Marys  probably  stood  for  the  Resurrection  and  there  probably  was  no 
special  appearance  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Virgin  Mary  is  not  one  of  the  three  women  who  go  to  the  tomb, 
according  to  the  direction  at  the  beginning  of  the  play  of  the  Three  Marys. 
"Hie  venient  ad  sepulchrum  Maria  Magdalene,  Maria  Jacobi,  et  Maria  Sa- 
lome, etc."  The  direction  first  quoted  is  also  inconsistent  with  that  at  the 
end  of  the  Burial  referred  to  above :  "Here  the  princes  xal  do  reverens  to 
cure  Lady,  and  gon  here  way,  and  leve  the  Maryes  at  the  sepulchre."  If  our 
theory  is  correct,  the  direction  stating  that  the  three  Marys  go  to  the  grave 
belongs  to  the  second  play  which  we  believe  has  influenced  the  cycle. 

Another  inconsistency  between  Prologue  and  cycle  appears  in  that  the 
former  does  not  sp'ecifically  mention  the  awakening  of  the  watch,  although 
it  does  seem  to  imply  some  such  scene  in  the  section  devoted  to  the  preceding 
play,  when  in  providing  for  the  setting  of  the  watch,  it  suggests  that  at  the 
resurrection  Christ  shall  frighten  the  soldiers.  Possibly  in  the  old  cycle  this 
scene  occurred  in  the  same  pageant  with  the  setting  of  the  watch. 

The  Remaining  Plays  of  the  Cycle 

The  play  of  the  Journey  to  Emmaus  is  a  very  simple  biblical  play  and 
agrees  with  the  Prologue  with  the  exception  that  the  Prologue  treats  the 
story  of  Thomas  as  a  separate  pageant.  The  use  of  the  tumbling  meter  in 
this  second  part  of  the  play  would  seem  to  be  very  significant  in  the  light  of 
this  inconsistency.  It  looks  as  if  at  the  time  of  the  revising  of  the  cycle  the 
original  Thomas  play  had  been  rewritten  in  this  late  meter  and  appended  to 
the  regular  Peregrini  play. 

In  the  Ascension  play  one  angel  only  appears;  whereas  the  Prologue 
states  that  there  shall  be  two.  At  the  end  of  the  play  Peter  (whose  name 
is  omitted  from  the  manuscript  and  also  from  Halliwell's  edition)  makes  a 
speech  to  the  disciples  telling  them  to  elect  another  apostle,  which  is  not 
included  in  the  Prologue  but  is  consistent  with  the  Bible  story."^ 

The  play  of  Pentecost  is  remarkably  short  consisting  of  only  thirty-nine 
lines.  It  would  almost  seem  that  it,  like  the  Judgment  play,  must  be  a  frag- 
ment, though  there  is  no  indication  of  this  in  the  manuscript,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  latter  play.  In  the  Judgment  play  we  have  at  the  end  the  name  "Deus" 
indicated  as  the  next  speaker,  but  no  speech  is  provided  for  him. 

The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  is  not  provided  for  in  the  Prologue  and  is 
written  in  a  different  hand  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the  cycle.    It  is  different 

"'  Faike,  Die  Quellen  dcs  sog.  Liidiix  Coveuliiac,  also  calls  attention  to  the  omission  of  Peter's 
name. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  61 

in  tone  and  much  more  elaborate  than  any  of  the  other  plays.  Directions 
such  as  the  following :  "Hie  cantabunt  org,'""^  and  "Et  hie  ascendent  in 
coelum  cantantibus  organis,"""  may  be  thought  to  indicate  that  this  play  was 
at  some  time  performed  in  a  church. 

Metrically  this  play  is  very  much,  confused.  There  are  a  number  of 
passages  in  the  prologue  stanza,  also  a  number  of  quatrains.  Some  of  these 
quatrains  are  double,  thus,  a  b  a  b  a  b  a  b,  and  a  number  of  them  also  begin 
with  a  couplet,  aabababab.  Five  stanzas  scattered  through  the  play 
seem  to  show  a  confusion  of  quatrains  with  the  ballad  stanza,  a  a  a  b  a  fa- 
aba  b.'^"  The  play  shows  throughout,  however,  longer  lines  than  the  rest 
of  the  cycle. 

With  the  exception  of  this  play  and  the  Thomas  scene,  noted  before,  this 
last  part  of  the  cycle  is  very  simple  metrically,  presenting  three  main  forms 
of  meter,  the  ballad  stanza,  the  doul)le  quatrain,  and  the  prologue  stanza. 
The  Resurrection  and  the  Three  Marys  down  to  Magdalene's  speech  to  the 
apostles  are  in  the  ballad  stanza.  Beginning  with  this  speech  and  throughout 
the  next  two  plays  as  far  as  the  scene  of  the  Incredulity  of  Thomas  the 
simple  double  quatrain  form  is  employed,  with  an  occasional  single  quatrain 
in  the  Appearance  to  Mary  Magdalene.  The  Thomas  scene  is  in  tumbling 
quatrains.  The  remaining  three  plays  are  in  the  prologue  stanza.  In  the 
Ascension  and  Pentecost  the  form  of  the  stanza  has  been  slightly  changed 
from  ababababcdddc  to  ababbcbcdeeed,  but  the  Judgment 
play  resumes  the  old  form. 

CONCLUSION 

It  appears,  then,  from  our  study  that  the  Prologue  provides  for  the  fol- 
lowing incidents : 

1.  Creation  of  Angels  and  Fall  of  Lucifer 

2.  Creation  and  Fall  of  Man 

3.  Cain  and  Abel 

4.  Noah  and  the  Flood 

5.  Abraham  and  Isaac 

6.  Moses  and  the  Laws 

7.  Prophets  (prophecies  of  a  queen) 

8.  Mary's  Betrothal  (in  two  parts) 

9.  Salutation 

10.  Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary 

11.  The  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary 

(This  section  is  a  simple  quatrain  and  probably  not  a  part  of  ilio  (Original 
prologue.) 

68  Halliwtll,   p.   iOi.  '••!>  Ilalliwill,   p.   400.  TO  Halliwcll.  pp.   .^S7.  .191.  39-'. 


62  ESTHER  L.  SM^ENSON 

12.  Joseph  and  the  Midwives 
(Also  a  quatrain.) 

13.  The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds 

14.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi 

15.  Slau,G:hter  of  the  Innocents  (including  a  Flight  into  Egypt) 

16.  The  Death  of  Herod 

17.  Christ  and  the  Doctors 

18.  The  Baptism  of  Christ 

19.  The  Temptation  (including  a  Council  in  Hell) 

20.  The  Woman  Taken  in  Adultery 

21.  The  Resurrection  of  Lazarus 

22.  The  Entry  into  Jerusalem 

23.  The  Last  Supper  (including  Judas'  Selling  of  Christ) 

24.  The  Betrayal 

25.  Christ  before  Caiaphas  (including  Peter's  Denial) 

26.  Christ  before  Pilate 

27.  The  Remorse  of  Judas 

28.  Pilate's  Wife's  Dream  and  the  Second  Trial  before  Pilate 

29.  The  Crucifixion 

30.  Longinus  and  the  First  Harrowing  of  Hell 

31.  Burial  and  Setting  of  the  Watch 

32.  Second  Harrowing  of  Hell  and  Christ's  Salutation  to  His  Mother  (i.  e., 

The  Resurrection) 

33.  The  Three  Marys  (Quern  Quaeritis) 

34.  Mary  Magdalene  (Hortulanus) 

35.  Cleophas  and  Luke  (Peregrini) 

36.  Thomas  of  India 

37.  The  Ascension 

38.  Pentecost 

39.  Doomsday 

Mr.  E.  N.  S.  Thompson  in  an  article  on  Ltidus  Coventriae'^^  expresses  the 
opinion  that  this  Prologue  is  not  an  integral  part  of  the  cycle,  but  is  ante- 
dated by  the  plays.  This  view,  however,  I  can  not  agree  with.  The  agree- 
ment of  the  Prologue  and  the  cycle  in  all  essential  scenes,  and  in  such 
peculiarities  as  (1)  the  emphasis  on  the  Virgin  in  the  Prophecies,  (2)  the 
prefixing  of  a  council  in  hell  to  the  regular  Temptation  play,  (3)  the  division 
of  the  Harrowing  of  Hell  into  two  scenes,  (4)  the  fact  that  Christ  appears 
to  his  mother  in  the  Resurrection  before  he  is  seen  by  the  three  Marys,  and 
many  other  instances  make  it  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  Prologue  belongs 

■'I  Mod.  Lang.  Notes,  x.xi. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  63 

to  the  cycle.  Moreover,  it  will  be  noted  that  the  plays  here  provided  for, 
while  sufficient  for  a  complete  cycle,'-  provide  only  for  very  simple  biblical 
scenes.  As  the  Prologue  now  stands  there  are  only  three  scenes  that  come 
from  Apochryphal  sources,  namely,  Mary's  Betrothal,  the  Trial  of  Joseph 
and  Mary,  and  Joseph  and  the  Midwives,  and  two  of  these  seem  from  metri- 
cal evidences  to  be  later  additions.  So  that  it  does  not  seem  probable  that 
the  Prologue  is  antedated  by  the  plays,  but  rather  that  it  represents  an  earlier 
and  more  primitive  form  of  the  same  cycle.  Thus  the  theory  that  the  Pro- 
logue represents  an  early  stage  of  our  plays  and  that*  those  scenes  which  do 
not  appear  there  are  later  modifications  of  the  cycle,  appears  to  be  tenable. 

Chief  among  these  modifications  are  the  Virgin  play  in  the  Nativity 
group  of  plays,  and  the  Passion  play  in  the  third  group.  In  addition  to 
these  two  main  instances,  it  will  be  remembered  that  other  scenes  not  men- 
tioned in  the  Prologue,  such  as  the  Lamech  episode  in  the  play  of  Noah's 
Flood,  the  story  of  the  Cherry-tree  in  the  Journey  to  Bethlehem,  and  the 
Veronica  episode  in  the  Crucifixion  are  to  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the 
period  of  revision. 

To  support  this  conclusion  an  examination  of  the  metrical  arrangement 
of  the  cycle  has  revealed  the  fact  that  the  tumbling  measure,  which  we 
believe  to  have  been  the  meter  of  a  redactor,  is  used  to  the  greatest  extent  in 
the  Virgin  and  Passion  plays,  and  that  it  appears  elsewhere  only  in  such  parts 
of  the  cycle  as  bear  evidence  of  revision ;  namely,  the  Lamech  episode,  the 
Cherry-tree  episode,  Herod's  first  boastful  speech  in  the  play  of  the  Magi, 
and  Christ's  appearance  to  Thomas. 

The  following  table  represents  the  general  distribution  of  the  various 
verse-forms  throughout  the  cycle.  It  omits,  however,  the  form  a  a  b  a  a  b- 
b  c  b  c  which  appears  only  in  the  last  half  of  Joseph's  Trouble  about  Mary 
and  in  the  play  of  the  Purification. 

72  The  omission  of  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth,  which  may  seem  to  be  traditionally  necessary,  has 
been  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  Prologue  here  bears  evidence  of  having  been  irodified. 


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LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


67 


It  appears,  then,  that  the  prologue  stanza  is  used  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
forms  in  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  cycle,  and  also  appears  to  some  extent 
in  the  plays  dealing  with  the  Nativity.  The  plays  of  the  Baptism  and 
Temptation  are  written  entirely  in  this  form,  but  after  that  the  stanza  does 
not  occur  again  until  the  Ascension.  The  quatrain  measure  is  predominating 
in  the  main  body  of  the  cycle.  The  double  quatrain  stanza  begins  in  the  play 
of  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  is  used  pretty  generally  through  the  Nativity 
group  and  the  plays  concerning  the  life  of  Christ  from  the  Dispute  with  the 
Doctors  through  the  first  half  of  the  Passion.  Beginning  with  the  second 
half  of  the  Passion  play  the  single  quatrains  seem  to  be  preferred  to  the 
double. 

In  the  Old  Testament  plays  there  is  only  a  single  instance  of  the  ballad 
measure,  God's  visit  to  the  Garden  of  Eden  in  the  play  of  the  Fall  of  Man. 
It  is  not  used  to  any  extent  until  after  the  Virgin  play  in  the  Trial  of  Joseph 
and  Mary  and  a  few  of  the  plays  immediately  following  that.  Then  it  does 
not  occur  again  before  the  last  part  of  the  Crucifixion  and  is  used  generally 
in  the  plays  dealing  with  the  Resurrection.  There  is  no  extensive  use  of 
couplets ;  but  when  they  do  appear,  it  is  in  scenes  that  it  would  seem  must 
have  been  parts  of  the  original  cycle. 

A  study  of  the  stage-directions  also  substantiates  the  theory  that  the 
Prologue  represents  an  early  stage  in  the  development  of  the  cvcle ;  since 
those  parts  which  correspond  most  closely  with  the  Prologue  employ  simple 
Latin  stage-directions ;  whereas  the  later  and  more  complicated  portions  of 
the  cycle  use  English  stage-directions  as  follows : 


Entirely  Latin 


Fall  of  Lucifer 
Fall  of  Man 
Cain  and  Abel 
i     Noah's  Flood 

Abraham  and  Isaac 
Moses  and  the  Tables 
Prophets 


„     ,.  ,          ,    T     •  S  The  Barrenness  of  Anna 

English    and    Latm  i  A-r       •     r.          ^  ^-       •     ^u     i-        i 

(  Mary  s  Presentation  in  the  remple 

Latin  |  Mary's  Betrothal 

English  and  Latin  |  Salutation  and  Conception 

None  I  Joseph's  Trouble  about   Mary 

English  and  Latin  ]  The  Visit  to  Elizabeth 


68 


ESTHER  L.  SVVENSON 


Entirely   Latin 


English  and  Latin 


The  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary 
Joseph  and  the  Midwives 
The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds 
The  Adoration  of  the  Magi 

The  Purification 


Entirely  Latin 


The  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents,  etc. 

Christ  and  the   Doctors 

The  Baptism  of  Christ 

The  Temptation 

The  Woman   Taken    in   Adultery 

The  Resurrection    of    Lazarus 


Entirely  English 


Council  of  the  Jews  and  Entry 

The  Last    Supper 

The  Betrayal 

Herod  and  Christ  before  Caiaphas 


Prevailingly  English 
(with    the    excep-   < 
tions   noted) 


Actual  Trial  before  Caiaphas 


Et  clamabunt  omnes 

Et  percuciet   super   caput 

Et  cantabit  gallus 

Trial  before  Pilate  and  Herod     |   Et  clamabunt 

Hie  unus  afiferet  aquam 
Et  clamabunt 
Et  curret 


Pilate's  Wife's  Dream  and 
Second  Trial  before  Pilate 

Et  clamabunt    omnes 

Hie  quasi  semimortua,  etc. 

Tunc  transiet  Maria  ad  Templum 
Harrowing  of  Hell 
Burial  and  Setting 


Crucifixion 


of  the  Watch 


Tunc  ibunt  ad  scpulcrum  Pilate,  etc. 


Entirely  Latin 
(with  the  one 
exception  noted) 


Mary  Magdalene 


Second  Harrowing  of  Hell  and  Resurrection 
The  Three  Maries 

Maria  Magdalen  goth  to  the  grave  and 
wepyth  and  seyth 
Percgrini  and  Thomas 
Ascension 
Pentecost 

Assumption    of   the   Virgin 
Doomsday 

The  question  of  the  method  of  presentation  of  these  plays  is  still  an 
unsolved  problem.  Mr.  Davidson''^  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  Hegge  plays, 
as  he  calls  them,  were  not  presented  in  separate  pageants,  but  that  the  entire 
cycle  was  intended  for  presentation  in  three  successive  days  or  years.     He 

^^  Studies  in  English  Mystery  Plays,  pp.   172174. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  69 

also  suggests  that  the  same  tree  was  used  in  the  Cherry-tree  episode  and  in 
the  play  of  the  Three  Kings.''*  Mr.  Thompson'^  divides  the  cycle,  for  pur- 
poses of  presentation,  into  five  groups,  each  of  which,  he  believes,  was  acted 
on  a  separate  vehicle.    These  five  groups  are  as  follows : 

1.  The  Old  Testament  group,  comprising  the  first  seven  plays. 

2.  The  Barrenness  of  Anna  to  the  Visit  to  Elizabeth. 

3.  The  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary  to  the  Dispute  of  Christ  and  the 
Doctors. 

4.  The  Baptism  to  the  Betrayal. 

5.  The  rest  of  the  cycle,  which  he  believes  was  acted  during  the  second 
year,  as  stated  by  Contemplacio  in  his  prologue  to  the  Herod  play. 

We  have  seen  reasons  in  the  appearance  of  the  manuscript  and  in  the  fact 
that  the  play  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  ends  with  an  "Explicit"  to  believe  that 
the  first  five  plays,  rather  than  the  first  seven,  were  regarded  as  a  single  unit. 
The  sixth  and  seventh  plays  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets  we  have  considered 
as  belonging  to  the  Nativity  and  not  to  the  Old  Testament  group. 

Mr.  Thompson's  second  group  is  identical  with  what  we  have  termed  the 
Virgin  play.  For  the  performance  of  this  play  the  following  properties  and 
stations  were  necessary:  A  temple  with  an  altar  and  something  to  repre- 
sent the  fifteen  steps  that  Mary  ascended;  a  space  outside  of  the  temple,  for 
one  of  the  directions  specifies  "recedant  tribus  extra  templum" ;  stations  to 
represent  the  homes  of  Anna  and  Joachim,  of  Mary  and  Joseph,  and  of 
Elizabeth  and  Zacharias.  Moreover,  some  device  must  have  been  contrived 
in  order  to  represent  heaven ;  for  we  have,  in  addition  to  the  dispute  of  the 
Four  Daughters  of  God,  the  Council  of  the  Trinity,  and  others  which  take 
place  in  heaven,  repeated  directions  that  angels  shall  descend  from  heaven 
and  again  ascend.  We  also  have  a  choir  in  heaven.  In  the  play  of  the  Visit 
to  Elizabeth  we  are  told  that  Joseph  and  Mary  walk  "circa  placeam"  on  their 
way  to  the  house  of  Elizabeth.  All  this  elaborate  machinery  could  not  have 
been  carried  about  on  a  vehicle ;  but,  as  has  been  suggested  before,  the  whole 
play  must  have  been  presented  on  a  fixed  stage. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  plays  concerned  with  the  Passion  and  Resurrec- 
tion, it  was  pointed  out  that  there  was  a  similar  group  of  plays  where  the 
use  of  a  stationary  stage  was  even  more  clearly  mdicated  than  in  the  case 
of  the  Virgin  play.  This  group  began  with  the  Council  of  the  Jews  and 
ended  with  the  Burial  and  Setting  of  the  Watch,  thus  comprising  parts  of 
Mr.  Thompson's  fourth  and  fifth  groups.  The  plays  which  follow  tliis  group 
are  much  more  simple  in  action  and  stage-directions,  many  of  them  being 
announced  by  "Incipits"  and  ended  by  "Explicits,"  so  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  believe  that  they  were  acted  on  the  same  stage  as  the  Passion  play. 

7*  Halliwell,  pp.  145,  146,  and  164.  TiMod.  Lang.  Nolcs.  xxi. 


70  ESTHER  L.  SIVENSON 

This  Passion  play  may  have  been  presented  in  two  divisions  or  scenes,  as 
indicated  by  Contemplacio ;  but  the  properties  in  the  two  parts  are  sufficiently 
alike  to  indicate  that  the  same  stage  was  used  in  the  two  parts.  In  the  first 
part  we  have  scaffolds  for  Annas  and  Caiaphas  which  they  occupy  when 
the  play  opens,  and  continue  to  retain  until  they  take  part  in  the  action,  when 
they  descend  into  "the  place."  The  first  scene  of  the  council  is  said  to  take 
place  in  the  "myd-place,"  that  is  somewhere  between  Annas'  and  Caiaphas' 
stations.  Then  we  are  told  that  in  the  scene  of  the  Entry,  Christ  rides  out 
of  "the  place."  This  place  must  have  been  large  and  divided  into  two 
parts  during  sucli  plays  as  the  Last  Supper,  where  the  scene  shifts  from 
the  Supper  to  the  Council  and  we  are  told  that  one  place  or  the  other  shall 
suddenly  unclose.  After  Judas  has  made  his  arrangements  with  the  Jews, 
the  Council  breaks  up  and  the  priests  go  again  to  their  scaffolds.  After  this 
Christ  walks  from  the  part  of  "the  place"  where  he  has  been  keeping  the 
Last  Supper  to  Gethsemane.  The  part  of  "the  place"  that  was  previously 
used  for  the  Council  may  here  have  been  used  for  the  garden.  After  the 
usual  scene  in  the  garden  a  direction  states  that  Jesus  goes  into  "the  place" 
where  the  soldiers  are  who  have  come  to  capture  him.  This  is  probably 
the  part  that  was  previously  used  for  the  Last  Supper.  Then  Jesus  is  led 
out  of  "the  place"  to  Annas  and  Caiaphas. 

The  second  part  of  the  play  begins  with  a  procession  after  which  Annas, 
Caiaphas,  Herod,  and  Pilate  take  their  scaffolds.  It  seems  that  Herod's  sta- 
tion was  surrounded  by  a  curtain,  for  after  Jesus  has  appeared  before 
Pilate  the  first  time,  we  are  told  that  "Herowdys  scaffold  xal  unclose  shewing 
Herowdes  in  astat,  alle  the  Jewys  knelyng,  etc."  In  this  part  of  the  play 
there  must  have  been  a  spot  to  represent  Hell.  Before  Lucifer  goes  to 
Pilate's  wife  he  speaks  to  the  devils  in  hell.  A  station  for  Pilate's  wife  was 
also  needed.  The  scene  of  the  second  trial  before  Pilate  calls  for  a  court 
room  which  was  not  the  same  as  Pilate's  scaffold,  for  we  are  told  that  he 
returns  to  his  station  after  he  has  pronounced  sentence.  The  action  here 
takes  place  both  within  and  without  the  court  room.  After  this  point  Pilate 
and  the  high  priests  presumably  remain  on  their  scaffolds  until  they  come 
down  to  put  the  inscription  on  the  cross  of  Christ.  Then  they  again 
return  to  their  stations  where  Pilate  receives  Joseph's  request  for  the  body 
of  Christ  and  the  high  priests'  request  for  a  watch.  When  the  watch  go  to 
the  tomb,  Pilate,  Annas,  and  Caiaphas  accompany  them,  but  return  again  to 
their  scaffolds,  where  if  the  Passion  play  extends  so  far,  they  will  receive  the 
report  of  the  watch.  The  scenes  of  the  crucifixion  and  the  burial  naturally 
demand  a  station  for  the  three  crosses  and  one  for  the  tomb ;  certainly  also 
the  Temple  to  which  Mary,  the  mother  of  Christ,  retires. 

Granted,  then,  that  the  plays  of  the  Life  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Passion 
were  acted  on  fixed  stages,  the  question  still  remains  as  to  how  the  other 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  71 

plays  were  presented.  It  is  possible  that  the  Old  Testament  plays  (i.  e.,  the 
first  five  of  the  cycle)  were  acted  on  one  movable  pageant,  although  the  in- 
troduction of  a  movable  ark  in  the  Noah  play  renders  this  unlikely.  The 
use  of  the  word  "pagent"  in  the  Prologue  together  with  the  frequent  "In- 
cipits"  and  "Explicits"  that  often  mark  off  individual  plays,  would  seem  to 
me  to  indicate  that  our  original  cycle,  represented  by  the  Prologue,  was 
acted  on  a  series  of  pageants ;  and  that  when  the  later  modification  took  place 
some  of  the  "Incipits"  and  "Explicits"  were  retained,  whereas  the  greater 
part  of  them  were  omitted. 

If  we  grant  that  the  play  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  was  acted  in 
a  church,  it  may  be  possible  that  parts  of  the  cycle,  as  it  now  stands,  were 
acted  on  a  fixed  stage,  and  other  parts,  on  movable  pageants.  It  is  possible 
that  the  plays  which  precede  the  Virgin  play  were  acted  on  movable  vehicles, 
and  then  that  the  procession  stopped  and  presented  on  a  fixed  stage  the  plays 
dealing  with  the  life  of  the  Virgin.  After  this  the  procession  resumed  its 
way  through  the  streets,  presenting  the  plays  which  intervene  between  the 
Virgin  and  the  Passion  plays.  The  scenes  presenting  the  Passion  were  again 
played  on  another  fixed  stage,  after  which  the  players  proceeded  to  the 
church  where  the  Assumption,  and  possibly  the  Judgment,  were  given. 

Two  circumstances,  however,  point  to  another  interpretation,  which  I 
believe  to  be  more  plausible.  In  the  play  of  Noah's  Flood,  after  the  Lamech 
episode,  we  are  told  that  Noah  enters  with  his  ship.'^®  Again  in  the  play  of 
the  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary  this  direction  occurs,  "Hie  intrabit  pagentum 
de  purgatione  Mariae  et  Joseph"  (p.  132).  These  stage-directions  seem  to 
me  to  indicate  that  the  audience  was  stationary  and  that  such  movable  pag- 
eants, as  were  used  in  the  performance,  were  rolled  in  before  the  audience. 
In  any  case,  Ludus  Coventriae  bears  evidence  of  a  change  from  the  tradi- 
tional Corpus  Christi  cycle  acted  on  moveable  pageants  to  a  more  elaborate 
play  on  a  fixed  stage. 

7ti  llalliwell,  p.  46. 


NOTE  ON  THE  HOME  OF  LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 

It  has  never  been  known  where  the  cycle  of  mystery  plays  published  by 
the  Shakespeare  Society  in  1841  as  "Ludus  Coventriae :    a  Collection  of 
Mysteries  formerly  represented  at  Coventry  on  the  Feast  of  Corpus  Christi," 
were  acted,  although  it  has  long  been  known  that  they  are  not  the  Coventry 
plays.    The  editor  of  the  cycle,  J.  O.  Halliwell( -Phillips-),  follows  a  tradition 
to  the  effect  that  this  cycle  was  formerly  acted  by  the  Grey  Friars  of  Cov- 
entry.   The  first  connection  of  the  manuscript  with  Coventry  is  an  entry  on 
folio  l*r,  said  by  Halliwell  to  be  in  the  handwriting  of  Dr.  Richard  James, 
librarian  to  Sir  Robert  Cotton  to  the   following  effect:     "Contenta   Novi 
Testamenti  scenice  expressa  et  actitata  olim  per  monachos  sive  fratres  men- 
dicantes ;  vulgo  dicitur  hie  liber  Ludus  Coventriae,  sive  Ludus  Corporis 
Christi ;   scribitur  metris  Anglicanis."     The  manuscript  had   formerly   be- 
longed to  Robert  Hegge  of  Durham,  a  fellow  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Oxford;  he  has  written  his  name  on  it  in  several  places.     At  his  death  in 
1630  the  manuscript  passed  into  the  hands  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton.     Halliwell 
states  on  the  basis  of  a  letter  in  the  Cottonian  collection^  that  James  was 
about  that  time  engaged  at  Oxford  in  collecting  manuscripts  for  Sir  Robert 
Cotton.    The  only  other  descriptive  entry  on  the  manuscript  is  at  the  top  of 
folio   Ir:     "The  plaie  called  Corpus  Christi."     This  is  in  a  seventeenth- 
century  hand,  I  should  think,  but  not  the  hand  of  Robert  Hegge,  as  stated 
by  Mr.  S.  B.  Hemingway,-  or  that  of  James  in  the  preceding  entry.     Sharp 
attributes  the  former  entry  to  Dr.  Smith,  a  later  Cottonian  librarian,  who 
enters  it  in  a  catalogue  of  the  Cottonian  MSS.  in  1696,  as  "A  collection  of 
plays,  in  old  English  meter :  h.  e.  Dramata  sacra,  in  quibus  exhibentur  his- 
toriae  veteris  et  N.  Testamenti,  introductis  quasi  in  scenam  personis  illic 
memoratis,    quas    secum    invicem    colloquentes    pro    ingenio    finget    Poeta. 
Videntur  olim  coram  populo,  sive  ad  instruendum  sive  ad  placendum,  a  Frat- 
ribus  mendicantibus  representata."     It  should  be  noted  with  regard  to  the 
former  entry  that  James  does  not  say  that  the  cycle  is  "Ludus  Coventriae," 
but  merely  that  "vulgo  dicitur  Ludus  Coventriae."    It  is  obvious  that  James 
had  not  read   the  plays,   since  he  speaks   of  "Contenta   novi   testamenti," 
whereas  there  are  Old  as  well  as  New  Testament  subjects  treated.     It  may 
or  may  not  be  significant  that  Dr.  Smith  says  nothing  about  Coventry. 

The  connection  of  this  cycle  with  Coventry  was  perpetuated  by  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  Dugdale's  History  of  Warwickshire,  edition  of  1656, 
page  116:^    "Before  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  this  city  [Coventry] 

1  The  reference,  as  given  by  Halliwell,  p.  vii,  is  Cotton.  Julius,  C.  iii,  fol.   193. 

2  English  Nativity  Plays,  p.  xxix. 

3  Halliwell,  pp.  ix-x;  Sharp,  Dissertation,  p.  5  fF. 

72 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  7o 

was  very  famous  for  the  pageants  that  were  played  therein,  upon  Corpus- 
Christi  day ;  which  occasioning-  very  great  confluence  of  people  thither  from 
far  and  near,  was  of  no  small  benefit  thereto :  which  pageants  being  acted 
with  mighty  state  and  reverence  by  the  friars  of  this  house  [the  Gray  Friars 
of  Coventry],  had  theaters  for  the  several  scenes,  very  large  and  high,  placed 
upon  wheels,  and  drawn  to  all  the  eminent  parts  of  the  city,  for  the  better 
advantage  of  spectators :  and  contained  the  story  of  the  New-Testament, 
composed  into  old  English  Rithme,  as  appeareth  by  an  ancient  MS.  (in  bibl. 
Cotton,  sub  effigie  Vesp.  D.  9  [8| )  intituled  Ludus  Corporis  Christi,  or  Ludits 
Coventriae.*  I  have  been  told  by  some  old  people,  who  in  their  younger 
years  were  eye-witnesses  of  these  pageants  so  acted,  that  the  yearly  con- 
flunce  of  people  to  see  that  shew  was  extraordinary  great,  and  yielded  no 
small  advantage  to  this  city." 

Thomas  Sharp,  writing  in  1825,  perceived  that  Ludus  Coventriae  "were 
no  part  of  the  Plays  or  Pageants  exhibited  by  the  Trading  Companies  of  the 
City,"  but  he  did  not  reject  Dugdale's  tradition  as  to  plays  by  the  Grey 
Friars,  and  this  he  thought  might  be  the  cycle  they  had  acted.  In  this 
opinion  he  is  followed  by  Halliwell.  Sharp  cites  an  entry  in  the  Coventry 
Annals,  "solitary  mention  in  one  MS.  (not  older  than  the  beginning  of  Chas. 
I.'s  reign)  of  Henry  Vllth's  visit  to  the  City  in  1492,  *to  see  Plays  acted  by 
the  Grey  Friars.'  "  In  this  I  think  we  may  find  the  source  of  Dugdale's 
error.  Dugdale  was  born  in  1605,  and  the  Coventry  Corpus  Christi  plays 
were  discontinued  in  1580.  He  pretends  to  give  only  a  somewhat  general 
tradition  as  to  the  plays  and  the  crowds  that  they  attracted.  This  vague  tra- 
dition is  rendered  definite  for  him  by  two  things ;  the  first  is  the  note  on  the 
MS.  by  James.  James  died  in  1638,  and  Dugdale,  according  to  Sharp,  page 
6,  was  introduced  to  Sir  Thomas  Cotton  and  the  Cottonian  MSS.  that  year. 
Sir  William  Dugdale  was  working  on  his  History  of  IVarzvickshire  as  early 
as  1642,  and,  according  to  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  was  using 
Sir  Thomas  Cotton's  library  in  1652,  and  no  doubt  used  it  a  great  deal  during 
the  years  he  was  at  work  on  the  book.  The  second  document  that  misled  him 
was  the  MSS.  Annals.  There  are  at  least  four  of  these  books  of  annals  still 
to  be  found  in  manuscript.''  Two,  A.  26  and  A.  43,  are  among  the  Corpora- 
tion manuscripts  at  Coventry ;  neither  is  of  very  great  age,  and  both  contain 
pretty  much  the  same  materials:  lists  of  mayors,  notable  or  miraculous 
events,  and  a  numljer  of  mentions  of  plays.  There  are  also  two  at  the  British 
Museum,  Harl.  6388  and  11346  Plut.  CXLII.  A.;  the  latter  is  of  no  great 
value  as  regards  pageants.  Harl.  6388  was  written  l)y  Humphrey  Wanley. 
and  is  dated  Dec.  17,  1690.     Wanley  says:     "This  book  was  taken  out  of 

<  In  his  MS.,  according  to  Halliwell,  Dugdale  savs:  "Tn  that  incoiiinaraMe  lil)rary  hclonging  to 
Sir  Thomas  Cotton,  there  is  yet  one  of  the  hooJces  which  perteynea  to  this  pageant,  cntillod 
Ludus  Corporis^  Christi,  or  Ludus  Coventriae." 

•'■'On  this  subject,  see  a  fuller  account  in  my  edition  of  Two  Coventry  Corpus  Christi  Plays, 
E.   E.  T.   S.,  p.  xix  ff. 


74  HARDIN  CRAIG 

manuscripts,  the  one  written  by  Mr.  Cristofer  Owen  Mayor  of  this  citty 
which  contains  the  charter  of  Walter  de  Coventre  concerning  the  commons 
etc.  to  Godfrey  Leg  Mayor  1637,  the  other  beginning  at  the  36  mayor  of 
this  citty  and  continued  by  several  hands  and  lately  by  Edmund  Palmer  late 
of  this  citty  .  .  .,  and  another  written  by  Mr.  Bedford  and  collected  out 
of  divers  others  and  continued  to  Mr.  Septimius  Bott.  And  two  other 
collected  by  Tho.  Potter  and  continued  to  Mr.  Robert  Blake,  and  another 
written  by  Mr.  Francis  Barnett,  to  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Jelliffs  Majoralty, 
and  another  written  by  Mr.  Abraham  Astley,  and  continued  to  Mr.  Sept. 
Bott,  and  another  written  by  Mr.  Abraham  Boune  to  Humfrey  Wrightwick, 
1607."  In  Dugdale's  Warwickshire  there  is  also  a  list  of  mayors  of  Coventry 
with  annals.  Sharp  quotes  MS.  Annals  and  Codex  Hales,  and  there  was  at 
least  one  copy  of  Coventry  annals  in  the  Birmingham  Free  Reference  Library 
at  the  time  of  the  fire  in  1879,  so  that  Sharp  may  represent  an  original, 

The  entry  with  which  we  have  to  do  is  given  as  follows :  "Corp.  MSS. 
A.  26  and  A.  43 :  Thomas  Churchman,  bucklemaker.  Mayor,  1492.  This 
year  the  King  and  Queen  came  to  Kenilworth ;  from  thence  they  came  to 
Coventry  to  see  our  plays  at  Corpus  Christitide  and  gave  them  great  com- 
mendation. Dugdale  and  11346  Plut.  CXLII.  A:  In  his  Mayoralty  K.  H. 
7.  came  to  see  the  playes  acted  by  the  Grey  Friars  and  much  commended 
them.  Harl.  6388:  The  King  and  Queen  came  to  see  the  playes  at  the 
greyfriers  and  much  commended  them."  The  entry  as  given  in  Dugdale 
gave  rise  to  the  impression  in  his  mind,  I  think,  as  it  certainly  did  in  the 
mind  of  Thomas  Sharp,  that  there  were  plays  in  Coventry  acted  by  the 
brotherhood  of  the  Grey  Friars.  James's  note  had  suggested  monks  or  men- 
dicant friars ;  here  was  this  entry  in  the  Coventry  annals  which  he  prints. 
It  is  easy  to  see  that  we  have  to  do  with  a  misunderstanding.  "Acted  by 
the  Grey  Friars"  need  not  mean  that  grey  friars  were  the  actors;  but  may 
mean  "at  the  Gray-friars  church."  The  grey-friars  was  a  common  way  of 
indicating  the  church.  Wanley  so  understands  the  entry,  for  he  says  in 
Harl.  6388,  "to  see  the  playes  at  the  greyfriers."  He  worked  from  a  large 
number  of  manuscripts,  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  entry  means  sim- 
ply that  the  King  and  Queen  watched  the  Corpus  Christi  play  as  it  was 
presented  by  the  craft  guilds  in  front  of  the  Grey  Friars  church,  where  there 
would  certainly  have  been  a  station ;  just  as  Queen  Margaret  had  seen  them 
at  a  station  in  Earl  Street  in  1456. 

The  only  mention  of  a  place  of  performance  in  the  cycle  itself  is  at  the 
end  of  the  general  Prologue  : 

A  Sunday  next,  yf  that  we  may. 

At  vj.  of  the  belle  we  ginne  oure  play. 

In  N.  towne,  wherfore  we  pray. 

That  God  now  be  Youre  Spede.® 

flHalliwell,  p.   18. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  75 

This  was  understood  by  somebody.  Sharp  does  not  say  whom,^  to  indi- 
cate a  series  of  plays  for  exhibition  at  Corpus  Christi  festival  generally, 
rather  than  expressly  for  Coventry,  since  N.  (nomen)  is  the  usual  mode  of 
distinguishing-  a  person  or  place  under  such  circumstances,  "as  N.  stands  in 
the  marriage  ceremony  unto  this  day.'"*  Halliwell  says,  "If  the  opinion  I 
have  formed  of  their  locality  be  correct,  I  can  account  for  this  by  supposing 
that  the  prologues  of  the  vexillators  belong  to  another  series  of  plays,  or  that 
these  mysteries  were  occasionally  performed  at  other  places.  ...  it 
must  be  confessed  that  the  conclusion  would  suit  a  company  of  strolling 
players  much  better  than  the  venerable  order  of  the  Grey  Friars."^  The  idea 
that  Lndus  Coventriae  is  the  play-book  of  a  strolling  company  has  been  very 
generally  entertained  since  that  time.  Ten  Brink  follows  that  idea  and  as- 
signs their  dialect  to  the  North-East  Midlands ;  so  also  Pollard.^"  Ten 
Brink's  conclusion  as  to  dialect  is  in  part  confirmed  by  a  study  of  the  dialect 
by  M.  Kramer,  Sprache  und  Heimat  des  sogen.  Lndus  Coventriae,  who,  how- 
ever, thinks  that  the  plays  are  of  southern  origin  but  rewritten  in  the  North- 
East  Midlands.  Chambers  does  not  consider  the  strolling  company  hypoth- 
esis as  proved.  He  perceives  that  they  are  stationary  plays  in  their  present 
form,  but  does  not  take  the  trouble  to  ascertain  that  the  manuscript  is  divided 
into  separate  plays,  although  the  numbers  are  large  and  in  red.  Another  mis- 
take he  makes  is  that,  although  he  sees  that  the  Prologue  must  have  been 
written  for  the  plays,  he  thinks  that  it  is  later  in  date  than  they  are.  It  repre- 
sents, as  Miss  Swenson's  dissertation  clearly  shows,  an  earlier,  purely  cyclic 
stage  of  the  same  plays.  Still  Chambers  does  not  rule  out  the  idea  that  we 
have  to  do  in  the  Hegge  cycle  with  a  series  of  craft-plays.  He  suggests  Nor- 
wich and  says  that  the  elaborate  treatment  of  the  legends  of  the  Virgin  sug- 
gests a  performance,  like  that  of  the  Lincoln  plays,  and  of  the  Massacre  of 
the  Innocents  in  the  Digby  MS.,  on  St.  Anne's  day  (July.  26). 

I  wish  to  make  the  last  suggestion  much  more  definitely,  having  arrived 
at  considerable  certainty  with  regard  to  it  from  other  points  of  view.  There 
are,  I  think,  good  reasons  for  fixing  upon  Lincoln  as  the  home  of  these  plays. 
The  somewhat  scanty  records  of  the  Lincoln  plays  seem  to  point  to  a  Corpus 
Christi  play  which  was  transferred  to  St.  Anne's  day,  and  acted  regularly  as 
a  St.  Anne's  play  until  near  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  centurv.  It  was  ap- 
parently an  ordinary  cyclic  play  with  certain  features  appropriate  to  St. 
Anne's  day.  The  so-called  Coventry  cycle,  or  to  use  the  name  of  a  former 
owner  of  the  manuscript,  the  Hegge  cycle,  is  unique  in  the  possession  of  a 
group  of  plays  dealing  with  the  nativity  and  childhood  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  a 

■^  Sharp,  p.   7. 

8  See  also  J.  P.  Collier,  History  of  Dramatic  Poetry,   ii,  p.   156. 

'■'  Loc.  cit.,  p.  xi. 

10  Ten  Rrink,  English  Literature,  ii,  p.  283;  A.  W.  Pollard,  English  Miracle  Plays,  p.  xxxvii. 
A.  R.  Hohlfeld,  Die  Kollcktivmisterien,  Anglia,  xi,  p.  228,  suggests  that  the  (Irey  Fri.irs  went  on 
the  road  with  their  play. 


76  HARD IX  CRAIG 

subject  of  unmistakable  connection  with  St.  Anne's  day.  The  Corporation 
records  show  that  each  Lincohi  alderman  was  required  to  furnish  a  silk 
gown  for  one  of  the  "kings"  in  the  procession  of  St.  Anne.  This  has  been 
supposed  to  refer  to  the  Three  Kings  of  Cologiie  in  the  Magi  play ;  but  there 
were  only  three  of  the  magi,  and  there  must  have  been  more  than  three  alder- 
men. The  Hegge  prophet  play  calls  for  no  less  than  thirteen  kings,  and  is, 
moreover,  unique  among  prophet  plays.  The  prophets  foretell  the  birth  of 
Mary  and  not  of  Jesus.  The  play  might  be  described  as  a  dramatic  form  of 
the  mediaeval  theme  of  the  "Root  of  Jesse."  They  had,  as  we  shall  see  pres- 
ently, some  special  kind  of  prophet  play  known  particularly  as  visus,  or 
"sights,"  though  the  name  was  applied  to  the  whole  St.  Anne's  play  too,  and 
this  Jesse,  it  is  so  called  in  the  manuscript,  with  the  accompanying  Virgin 
plays  would  be  most  appropriate. 

The  available  information  about  the  Lincoln  plays  is  contained  in  the 
14th  Report  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission.^^  and  in  an  article 
entitled  Some  English  Plays  and  Players  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Leach  in  the  Furni- 
vall  Miscellany.  Canon  Wordsworth  has  also  published  a  few  bits  of  infor- 
mation in  his  Lincoln  Statutes  and  his  Notes  on  Mediaeval  Services  in  Eng- 
land. One  can  not  be  sure  whether  or  not  the  principal  manuscripts  have 
been  read  carefully  for  the  purpose  of  getting  all  possible  information  about 
the  plays,  or  whether  a  study  of  completer  forms  of  the  references  already 
found  might  not  yield  a  good  deal  more  information  than  they  do  in  their  im- 
perfect versions.  The  Chapter  Act  Books  and  the  Chapter  Computi  seem 
particularly  promising.  The  Historical  MSS.  Report  on  the  Manuscripts  of 
the  Dean  and  the  Chapter  of  Lincoln^-  gives  no  information,  and  that  which 
we  have  comes  from  Mr.  Leach's  article. 

We  know  of  unusual  dramatic  activities  on  the  i)art  of  vicars  of  the  choir 
and  clerks  of  the  Cathedral  in  the  thirteenth  century  from  the  hostile  writ- 
ings of  Bishop  Grosseteste.^'^  He  denounces  ludos  and  miracula  together 
with  the  Feast  of  Fools.  In  1390  the  vicars  and  clerks  are  still  liable  to 
censure  because  they  dressed  like  laymen,  laughed,  shouted,  and  acted  plays, 
which  they  commonly  and  fitly  called  the  Feast  of  Fools. '^  There  was  ap- 
parently much  dramatic  activity  in  the  minster.  Chapter  Computi  for  1406, 
1452,  1531,  have  entries  of  payments,  'Tn  serothecis  emptis  pro  Maria  et 
Angelo  et  l^rophetis  ex  consuetudine  in  Aurora  Natalis  Dni  hoc  anno."^*^ 
There  i.>  one  very  puzzling  entry  given  by  Canon  Wordsworth^"  in  these 
terms:     "In  1420  tithes  to  the  amount  of  8s  8d  were  assigned  to  Thomas 


11  Appendix,  8,  pp.    1-120.  ^'-i  Hist.  MSS..  xu.  App.  9,  pp.   553   ff. 

13  Chambers,  ii.  p.  100  ct  passim;  Luard,  Letters  of  Robert  Grosscteste,  (Rolls  Series),  74,  162, 
317. 

1*  Chapter  Act   I5ook  quoted  by   Leach,   p.  222. 

15  These  entries  are  given  by  Wordsworth,  Notes  on  Mediaeval  Services,  p.  126,  and  Lincoln 
Statutes,   ii,   Iv. 

1«  Wordsworth,   p.    126. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE 


// 


Chamberleyn  for  getting  up  a  spectacle  or  pageant  ("cujusdam  excellentis 
visits')  called  Rubum  quern  viderat  at  Christmas."  This  is  possibly  to  be 
connected  with  the  prophet  play  mentioned  above^  since  Moses  was  in  most 
versions  of  the  processus  the  first  prophet — hence  the  allusion  to  the  burning 
bush — and  with  him  possibly  the  play  of  the  Tables  of  the  Law. 

Further  references  point  to  an  identification  of  the  Corpus  Christi  play 
with  the  play  acted  on  St.  Anne's  day.  Leach  gives  entries  from  a  list  of 
mayors  and  bailiffs  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  with  annals  of  the  city. 
Amongst  the  entries  are  references  to  plays,  two  being  to  the  Corpus  Christi 
play,  namely,  in  12  of  Edw.  IV,  1471-2,  and  14  of  Edw.  IV,  1473-4.  One  of 
the  Chapter  Act  books,  according  to  Leach,  has  a  reference  in  1469  to  the 
Show  or  Play  of  St.  Anne.  And  if  we  trace  this  St.  Anne's  play  by  means 
of  the  Corporation  Minute  Book  covering  the  early  fifteenth  century, ^^  we 
find  that  it  was  probably  the  Corpus  Christi  play  under  a  new  name.  There 
were  no  doubt  extensive  changes  in  the  play  to  make  it  more  appropriate  to 
St.  Anne's  day;  but  it  is  evidently,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  Corpus 
Christi  play  transferred  to  another  date,  a  thing  familiar  in  the  Chester  and 
Norwich  Whitsun  plays.  The  following  entries  will  indicate  the  circum- 
stances of  the  St.  Anne's  play  so  far  as  they  can  be  determined  from  the 
materials  at  hand : 

1515,  27  July.  It  is  agreed  that  whereas  divers  garments  and  other  "heriormcnts" 
are  yearly  borrowed  in  the  country  for  the  arraying  of  the  pageants  of  St.  Anne's  guild. 
but  now  the  knights  and  gentlenun  are  afraid  with  the  plague  so  that  the  "graceman"' 
(chief  officer  of  the  Guild  of  St.  Anne)  cannot  borrow  such  garments,  every  alder- 
man shall  prepare  and  set  forth  in  the  said  array  two  good  gowns,  and  every  sheriff 
and  every  chamberlain  a  gown,  and  the  persons  with  them  shall  wear  the  same.  And 
the  constables  are  ordered  to  wait  upon  the  array  in  procession,  both  to  keep  the 
people  from  the  array,  and  also  to  take  heed  of  such  as  wear  garments  in  the  same. 

1517,  10  June,  22  Sept.  Sir  Robert  Denyas  appointed  St.  Anne's  priest  .... 
having  yearly  5/.,  he  promising  yearly  to  help  to  the  bringing  forth  and  preparing  of 
the  pageants  in  St.  Anne's  guild. 

1518,  16  June.  Ordered  that  every  alderman  shall  send  forth  a  servant  with  a  torch 
to  be  lighted  in  the  procession  with  a  rf)chct  (1521,  "an  onest  gowne")  upon  him  about 
the  Sacrament,  under  pain  of  forfeiture  of  6s.  %d.,  and  also  under  like  penalty,  send 
forth  one  person  with  a  good  gown  upon  his  back  to  go  in  the  procession.  That  every 
constable  shall  wait  on  the  procession  on  St.  Anne's  day  by  7  of  the  clock.  ...  In 
1525  the  aldermen  are  each  to  provide  a  gown  of  silk  for  the  kings.  ...  It  is 
ordered  that  every  occupation  shall  prej)are  and  apparel  in  all  preparation  except  plate 
and  cups  ("copes").  List  of  defaulters  in  1526.  In  1527  the  parishioners  of  St.  John 
Evang.  in  Wykford  refuse  to  lend  "honroments." 

1519,  18  June.  Agreed  that  every  man  and  woman  in  the  city,  being  able,  shall 
be  brother  and  sister  in  St.  .Knne's  guild,  and  nay  yearly  Ad.,  man  and  wife,  at  the  least. 

Every  occupation  belonging  to  St.  Anne's  guild  to  bring  forth  their  pageants  suf- 
ficiently, upon  pain  of  forfcting  10/. 

1521,    16  July.     Cleorge   Browne,   alderman,   elected   in   the   place   of   the   graceman 

IT  //;-.?f.   M.SS..  xiv.  .\\>\>.  8,  pp.  25  IT. 


78  HARDIN  CRAIG 

of  St.  Anne's  gild,  complains  that  as  the  plague  is  reigning  in  the  city  he  can  not  get 
such  garments  and  "honourments"  as  should  be  in  the  pageants  of  the  procession; 
wherefore  it  is  agreed  to  borrow  a  gown  of  my  lady  "Powes"  for  one  of  the  Maries,  and 
the  other  Mary  to  be  arrayed  in  the  crimson  gown  of  velvet  that  belongeth  to  the 
gild;  and  the  prior  of  St.  Katharine's  to  be  spoken  witli  to  have  such  "honourments" 
as  we  have  had  aforetime. 

30  Oct.  The  foundation  of  a  priest  to  sing  in  the  church  of  St.  Michael  upon  the 
hill  .  .  .  with  a  proviso  that  the  said  'chaplain  shall  yearly  be  ready  to  help 
to  the  preparing  and  bringing  forth  of  the  procession  of  St.  Anne's  day,  and  after 
Mr.  Dighton's  decease  to  be  called  for  ever  St.  Anne's  priest. 

31  Dec.  ( ?)  Every  alderman  to  make  a  gown  for  the  kings  in  the  pageant  on 
St.  Anne's  day,  and  the  Pater  Noster  play  to  be  played  this  year. 

1539,  18  July.  Agreed  that  St.  Anne's  gild  shall  go  up  on  the  Sunday  next  after 
St.  Anne's  day  in  manner  and  form  as  it  hath  been  had  in  time  past. 

12  Nov.  The  stuff  belonging  to  St.  Anne's  gild  to  be  laid  in  the  chapel  of  the 
bridge,  and  the  house  in  which  it  lieth  to  be  let. 

1540,  2  June.  Agreed  that  St.  Anne's  gild  shall  go  forward  as  it  hath  done  in  times 
past ;  that  every  alderman  shall  have  a  gown  and  a  torch,  and  every  sheriff  to  find 
a  gown,  and  every  occupation  to  bring  forth  their  pageants  according  to  the  old  cus- 
tom, and  every  occupation  that  hath  their  pageants  broken  to  make  them  ready  against 
that  day,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  20.S. 

1542,  10  June.  St.  Anne's  gild  to  be  brought  forth  the  Sunday  after  St.  James' 
day  (St.  Anne's  day  in  1539  and  1547). 

On  Nov.  14,  1545,  the  Great  Gild  made  over  its  lands,  tenements,  and  heredita- 
ments for  the  relief  of  the  city  and  its  plate  on  the  5th  of  February,  1546.  On  Nov. 
5,  1547,  jewels,  plate,  and  ornaments  belonging  to  St.  Anne's  Gild  are  ordered  sold  for 
the  use  of  the  common  chamber ;  but  that  year,  13  June,  the  procession  and  sight  upon 
the  Sunday  next  after  St.  Anne's  day  shall  be  brought  forth  as  hath  been  in  times  past, 
and  every  occupation  shall  pay  to  the  same  as  hath  been  accustomed. 

1554,  6  July.  Agreed  at  a  Secret  Council  that  St.  Anne's  gild  with  Corpus  Christi 
play  shall  be  brought  forth  and  played  this  year,  and  that  every  craft  shall  bring  forth 
their  pageants  as  hath  been  accustomed,  and  all  occupations  to  be  contributories  as 
shall  be  assessed. 

1555,  3  June.  St.  Anne's  gild  to  be  brought  forth  as  hath  been  heretofore 
accustomed. 

To  these  entries  add  the  following  one  summarized  by  Leach,  page  224,  "Again,  on 
Nov.  12,  31  Henry  VII,  it  was  agreed  by  the  Common  Council  that  a  large  door  should 
be  made  at  the  late  schoolhouse  that  the  pageants  may  be  sent  in,  and  rent  was  to 
be  charged  for  warehousing  of  4d.  for  each  pageant,  'and  Noy  schippe  12J.'  " 

There  were,  therefore,  a  Corpus  Christi  play  and  a  procession  on  St. 
Anne's  day,  directed  by  the  mayor  and  the  graceman ;  the  guild  priest 
helped  in  the  preparation  of  the  pageants ;  the  host  was  carried  in  the 
procession;  the  content,  so  far  as  it  can  be  determined,  is  normal;  Noah, 
a  play  containing  kings,  an  Ascension  and  an  Assumption  and  Coro- 
nation of  the  Virgin.^^  In  1555  the  order  is  for  "St.  Anne's  guild  and  Corpus 
Christi  play."  It  is  altogether  probable  that  the  entries  in  the  annals  for 
1471-2,  1473-4,  refer  to  the  same  play.  The  Hegge  cycle  has  the  striking 
quality  of  possessing  elaborate  St.  Anne's  day  characteristics  and  of  having 

18  See  below. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  79 

been  at  the  same  time,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  Prologue,  a  Corpus  Christi  play. 
Both  these  plays  and  the  Lincoln  plays  were  apparently  regularly  acted  on 
Sunday. 

The  Lincoln  plays  seem  to  have  been  processional,  and  yet  to  have  been 
acted,  at  least  in  part,  upon  a  fixed  stage.  We  have,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
records  of  the  procession,  and,  on  the  other,  a  record  which  proves  that  the 
Assumption  of  the  Virgin  was  acted  in  the  nave  of  the  cathedral.  We  pos- 
sess, moreover,  a  list  of  stage  properties  which  may  reasonably  be  believed 
to  have  been  employed  in  the  Corpus  Christi  play,  and  were  certainly  the 
properties  of  a  stationary  stage.  Leach,  page  223,  gives  an  entry  in  this 
form :  "For  example,  in  1469,  one  of  the  Chapter  Act  Books  (A.  2.  36,  fol. 
32)  has  a  reference  to  the  Show  or  Play  of  St.  Anne.  The  Chapter  provided 
for  the  expenses  of  J.  Hanson,  chaplain,  about  the  show  (visum)  of  the  As- 
sumption of  the  Virgin  on  St.  Anne's  day  last  past,  given  in  the  nave  of  the 
church,  with  a  reward  to  him  out  of  the  money  coming  from  the  next  open- 
ing of  the  high  altar,  i.  e.,  of  the  collection  box  there."  And  again  to  quote 
the  same  authority,  this  time  following  more  closely  a  passage  in  one  of  the 
"act-books  or  minute-books  of  the  Chapter  A.  31,  f.  18:"  "On  Saturday,  the 
Chapter  Day,  June,  1483,  in  the  high  choir  of  the  Cathedral  Church  of  the 
Blessed  Mary  of  Lincoln,  after  compline.  Sir  Dean  with  his  brethren,  the 
Precentor,  Chancellor,  Treasurer,  and  Alford  standing  according  to  custom 
before  the  west  door  of  the  choir,  and  discussing  the  procession 
of  St.  Anne  to  be  made  by  the  citizens  of  Lincoln  on  St.  Anne's  day  next, 
determined  that  they  would  have  the  play  or  speech  (sermoniiim)'^^  of  the 
Assumption  or  Coronation  of  the  Blessed  Mary  repaired  and  got  ready,  and 
played  and  shown  in  the  procession  aforesaid,  as  usual  in  the  nave  of  the  said 
church.  The  question  being  raised  at  whose  expense  this  was  to  be  done : 
they  said  at  the  expense  of  those  who  were  willing  to  contribute  and  give 
anything  to  it,  and  the  rest  to  be  met  by  the  common  fund  and  the  fabric 
fund  in  equal  shares,  and  Sir  Treasurer  and  T.  Alford  were  made  surveyors 
of  the  work." 

This  state  of  things  is  exactly  reflected  in  the  Hegge  cycle.  The  Pro- 
logue of  the  cycle  is  divided  into  pageants  and  the  word  is  freely  used  in  the 
Prologue.  "Pageant"  frequently  meant  the  vehicle  on  which  plays  were 
acted  and  was  usually  associated  with  that  idea.  This  Prologue  contemplates 
a  regular  processional  play;  but  what  do  we  find?  We  find  that  the  mass 
of  the  plays  were  acted  on  a  fixed  stage ;  so  far  as  we  find  indications  at  all. 
Those  which  are  unmodified  and  agree  with  the  Prologue  may  possibly  at 
any  time,  however  late,  have  been  acted  on  pageants.  In  two  plays  pageants 
were  actually  employed,  namely,  in  the  Noah  play,  where  Noah  goes  out  and 

19  The  proper  reading  is  no  doubt  "serenionium"  for  "cercmonium";  see  Chambers,  ii.  p.  379. 


80  HARDIN  CRAIG 

brings  in  the  ark,  and  then  when  the  play  is  over,  withdraws  with  it ;  and  in 
the  Trial  of  Joseph  and  Mary  where  the  play  begins  with  the  stage-direction : 
"Hie  intrabit  pagentum  de  purgatione  Mariae  et  Joseph."-"  Pageants  may 
have  been  used  in  many  other  parts  of  the  cycle  for  all  you  can  tell  from  the 
manuscript.  The  cycle  is,  moreover,  divided  in  the  manuscript  into  separate 
plays,  even  when  there  is  no  break  in  the  action.  Now,  why  should  this 
have  been  done?  It  seems  to  me  that  it  was  done  to  preserve  the  identity 
of  these  diflferent  plays,  although  they  were  no  longer  separate  pageants; 
and  that  would  have  been  necessary  in  order  to  preserve  the  responsibility 
of  the  diflferent  trading  companies.  This  responsibility  was  preserved  at 
Lincoln  and  thus  fulfills  the  special  conditions  of  the  manuscript.  The 
manuscript  of  the  Hegge  plays  (Brit.  Mus.  Cotton  MS.  Vesp.  D.  viii.) 
shows  the  play  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  written  in  a  different  hand 
from  the  rest  of  the  manuscript,  but  evidently  of  about  the  same  date  as  the 
other  plays ;  it  was  incorporated  in  the  manuscript  at  the  time  that  it  was 
made  up.  It  is  numbered  and  rubricated  and  even  corrected  in  the  hand  of 
the  scribe.-^  It  was  evidently  a  separate  play-book ;  another  case  of  that  is 
certainly  the  Passion  play  in  two  parts,  the  first  pages  of  which  look  as  if 
they  had  been  exposed  as  outside  covers.  We  evidently  have  to  do  with  an 
"original"  which  has  been  made  up  of  old  and  new  parts.  It  is  probably 
an  ofificial  document  analogous  to  the  Corporation  Register  at  York. 

There  is  preserved  at  the  back  of  a  Lincoln  Corporation  minute-book^^ 
the  following  entry  of  stage  properties:  1564.  July. — "A  note  of  the  perti 
.  the  properties  of  the  staice  .  .  .  played  in  the  moneth  of  July 
anno  sexto  regni,  reginae  Elizabethae,  etc.,  in  the  tyme  of  the  mayoralty  of 
Richard  Carter,  whiche  play  was  then  plaved  in  Brodgaite  in  the  seid  citye, 
and  it  was  of  the  storye  of  Tobias  in  the  Old  Testament.  First,  hell  mouth 
with  a  neither  chap ;  item,  a  prison  with  a  coveryng;  item,  Sara  ('s)  chambre : 
lying  at  Mr.  Norton's  house  in  the  tenure  of  William  Smart.  Item  a  greate 
idoll  with  a  clubb ;  item,  a  tombe  with  a  coveryng ;  item,  the  citie  of  Jerusa- 
lem with  towers  and  pynacles ;  item,  the  citie  of  Raiges  with  towers  and 
pynacles;  item,  the  citie  of  Nynyve ;  item,  tlie  King's  palace  of  Nynyve ; 
item,  olde  Tobyes  house ;  item,  the  Isralytes  house  and  the  neighbures  house; 
item,  the  Kyngs  palace  at  Laches ;  remanyng  in  Saynt  Swythunes  churche 
Item,  a  fyrmament  with  a  fierye  clowde  and  a  duble  clowde,  in  the  custodye 
of  Thomas  Fulbeck,  alderman."  It  has  l^ieen  suggested  that  some  of  these 
properties,  if  not  all,  are  those  of  the  defunct  Corpus  Christi  plav ;  but  be 
that  as  it  may,  it  is  evident  that  a  number  of  these  properties  could  have 
been  employed  in  presenting  plays  in  the  Hegge  cycle.    "Hell  mouth  with  a 

soHalliwell,   i)p.   46,   48,   132. 

21  See  Athetteum.  Aug.   16,  1913,  and  Mr.  W.   W.   (jrey's  letter  in  same  periodical   Sept.   13,   1913. 

22  Hist.  MSS.,  xiv.  App.  8,  pp.  57-8. 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  81 

neither  chap,"  "Jerusalem  with  towers  and  pynacles,"  a  "tombe  with  a  cover- 
yng,"  and  a  "fyrmament  with  a  fierye  clowde  and  a  duble  clowde,''  could  have 
been  used  in  presenting-  the  play  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin.  In  the 
case  of  the  first  three  it  is  not  a  matter  of  much  significance ;  but  with  regard 
to  the  last-mentioned  strange  piece  of  mechanism  it  is  certainl}-  most  sig- 
nificant to  find  evidence  of  its  use.  Before  the  death  of  the  Virgin  Mary  she 
desires  to  see  the  Apostles,  who  are  abroad  in  distant  lands ;  suddenly  St. 
John  appears  and  says : 

In  Pheso  I  was  prechyng  a  fer  contre  ryth, 

And  by  a  whyte  clowde  I  was  rapt  to  these  hyllys. 

Later  all  the  Apostles  suddenly  appear ;  only  Peter  and  Paul  speak ;  Peter 
says : 

In  dyveris  contreys  we  prechid  of  youre  sone  and  his  blis. 
In  dyveris  clowdys  eche  of  us  was  suddenly  curyng ; 
And  in  on  were  brouth  before  youre  yate  here  i-wys 
The  cause  why  no  man  cowde  telle  of  oure  comyng. 

One  further  slight  point  of  some  value  is  that  the  Hegge  play  of  the  As- 
sumption of  the  Virgin  makes  use  of  a  choir  and  an  organ,  as  if  it  were  acted 
in  a  church. 

The  suggestion  that  the  plays  belonged  to  Lincoln  has  been  made  before, 
and  there  are  apparent  agreements  in  the  matter  of  dialect  and  content  with 
what  we  should  expect  to  find  there.  The  hypothesis  explains  at  a  glance 
many  of  the  perplexities  and  problems  which  have  involved  the  cycle.  In 
fact  it  would  be  so  rare  to  find  in  any  other  place  such  a  set  of  conditions  as 
those  of  Lincoln  that  the  identification  must  gain  in  credibility  the  more  it  is 
considered.  Lincoln  was  a  great  ecclesiastical  center,  and  at  that  place  we 
have  a  close  and  intimate  connection  between  the  cathedral  clergy  and  the 
town  plays,  a  set  of  circumstances  which  exactly  accounts  for  the  remarkable 
homiletic  and  apochryphal  interest  of  the  Hegge  cycle. 


In  her  recent  paper,  entitled  "Tlie  I'roblem  of  the  Lndus  Coventriae,"-'^ 
Miss  M.  H.  Dodds  has  also  reached  the  same  general  conclusion  as  Miss 
Swenson's  study ;  namely,  that  the  Prologue  represents  an  earlier  cycle 
which  was  the  foundation  of  the  present  Lndus  Coventriae ;  but  disagrees 
widely  with  Miss  Swenson's  paper  when  she  concludes  that  we  have  in 
Lndus  Coventriae  a  composite  made  up  of  five  cycles  from  five  diflFerent 
places.  Miss  Swenson's  conclusion  is  that  we  have  to  do  with  one  cycle 
and  the  changes  it  has  undergone  in  one  place. 

23  Modern  Language  Review,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  79  ff. 


82  HARDIN  CRAIG 

Arguing:  from  the  last  stanza  of  the  general  Prologue,  she  makes  two 
statements  with  regard  to  the  original  N.  Town  plays:  (1)  That  the 
plays  must  have  been  accurately  described  by  the  Prologue;  (2)  that  they 
must  have  been  founded  upon  stories  from  the  Bible.  With  the  first  of 
these  propositions  I  agree  perfectly,  and.  in  general,  I  agree  that  the 
earlier  plays  were  simple  and  scriptural  in  their  nature;  but  I  find  many 
disagreements  with  her  application  of  the  principles  stated. 

In  the  first  place,  Miss  Dodds'  study  of  the  relations  between  Prologue 
and  plays  has  taken  no  account  of  meters,  nor  of  minor  differences  in 
incident,  and  an  insufficient  account  of  stage-directions.  This  leads  her 
to  conclude  that  the  play  dealing  with  the  girlhood  of  the  Virgin  and  the 
Easter  play  have  been  incorporated  as  wholes  and  not  simply  combined 
with  old  plays  on  the  same  subjects,  and  she  makes  no  attempt  to  dis- 
criminate between  old  and  new  elements  in  these  plays.  She  says  that  the 
first  seven  plays,  including  the  Prophets,  belong  to  the  original  cycle,  but 
she  fails  to  note  the  emphasis  upon  the  Virgin  both  in  the  Prologue  and 
the  play  of  the  Prophets  and  consequently  concludes  that  all  the  plays 
treating  the  subject  of  the  girlhood  of  the  Virgin  (Barrenness  of  Anna  to 
the  Visit  to  Elizabeth),  as  well  as  the  stanzas  in  the  Prologue  which  corres- 
pond to  them,  have  been  incorporated  about  1468  by  some  compiler  who 
was  eager  to  glorify  the  Virgin. 

The  theory  that  the  Prologue  has  been  left  intact  except  in  the  case  of 
the  quatrains  numbered  fourteen  and  fifteen,  as  noted  by  Miss  Swenson 
above,  and  that  the  Girlhood  plays  are  made  up  of  old  and  new  elements 
can  not,  I  think,  be  refuted  simply  by  the  statement  in  the  Prologue  that 

Of  holy  wryth  this  game  xal  bene 
And  of  no  fablys  be  no  way. 

The  people  of  England  in  1468  did  not  draw  a  very  sharp  distinction 
between  those  stories  which  were  definitely  in  the  Bible  and  those  generally 
accepted  as  "gospel  truth"  by  the  Church  at  large.  Such  stories  as  the 
Betrothal  of  Mary  might  be  included  and  accepted  as  very  truth  and  "no 
fablys."  Miss  Dodds  also  fails  to  notice  the  strange  mixture  of  elements 
in  the  Easter  cycle ;  although  in  this  case  she  concludes  somewhat  incon- 
sistently that  the  Prologue  has  been  allowed  to  stand  as  it  was.  The  play 
thus  incorporated,  or,  as  I  think,  the  play  thus  rewritten,  she  would  end 
with  the  Three  Maries.  It  seemed  to  Miss  Swenson  more  probable,  from  a 
study  of  meter,  stage-directions,  and  minute  differences  in  incident,  and 
also  because  the  prologue  spoken  by  Contemplacio  promises  only  a  Passion 
play  (not  a  Resurrection  play)  that  the  influence  ends  with  the  scene  of 
the  Burial. 

There  is,  I  think,  no  reason  for  considering  the  plays  from  the  Adoration 


LUDUS  COVENTRIAE  83 

of  the  Shepherds  to  the  Death  of  Herod  as  a  separate  cycle,  as  Miss  Dodds 
does.  They  are  not  self-consistent  in  style  or  independent  of  the  rest  of 
the  cycle  in  style  or  meter,  but  seem  to  be  a  normal  Nativity  group.  The 
Purification  is  evidently  from  a  different  source  altogether.  It  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  Prologue  and  is  in  a  meter  rarely  used  in  the  cycle;  but 
otherwise  the  Nativity  group  has  seemed  to  me  to  belong  with  the  rest  of 
the  cycle.  And  so  I  should  not  agree  that  any  of  Miss  Dodds'  five  groups 
are  independent  of  the  cycle  or  imported  from  the  outside. 

There  are  other  significant  omissions  in  Miss  Dodds'  paper ;  such  as 
her  failure  to  make  note  of  such  excrescences  as  the  Lamech  episode,  the 
Cherry-tree  episode,  and  in  general  the  passages  written  in  tumbling 
meter;  also  the  way  in  which  stage-directions  are  employed  and  plays 
introduced  and  concluded  and  many  points  of  disagreement  between  Pro- 
logue and  cycle;  but  these  will  be  sufficiently  plain  by  a  comparison  of 
her  paper  with  the  preceding  one  by  Miss  Swenson. 


\ 


'FAriMTy 


